Telecommunications giant Optus has been hit with a $12 million fine after its 2023 service outage left more than 2,000 Australians unable to make emergency calls.

In a Friday statement, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) declared subsidiaries of Optus have paid penalties of more than $12 million for breaches of emergency call rules.

The penalties relate to Optus’ nationwide service outage in 2023, during which an estimated 10.2 million customers and 400,000 businesses were affected by service disruptions.

The one-day outage – which was caused by a botched software upgrade – not only disrupted critical infrastructure such as banks, hospitals and public transport, but also left thousands of Australians unable to contact Triple Zero.

It was initially believed emergency calls were only non-functional when attempted from a landline, but an ACMA investigation later revealed a network issue at Optus left “most mobile devices” unable to camp onto other carriers for emergency calls.

And while former Optus chief executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin initially posited a total of 228 unsuccessful Triple Zero calls, ACMA now notes the telco “failed to provide access” to the emergency call service for some 2,145 people during the course of its one-day outage.

“Our findings indicate that Optus failed in the management of its network in a number of areas and that the outage should have been preventable,” said ACMA chair Nerida O’Loughlin.

Optus further failed to conduct 369 welfare checks on people who had tried to make an emergency call during the outage.

These welfare checks – which involve simply checking on the wellbeing and safety of people who made an unsuccessful emergency call – were introduced as a requirement under Australia’s Telecommunications Act following a similar Triple Zero outage involving rival telco Telstra in 2018.

“Triple Zero availability is the most fundamental service telcos must provide to the public,” said O’Loughlin.

“When an emergency call fails to connect there can be devastating consequences for public health and safety.”

Optus in-all accumulated three infringement notices related to the outage, with ACMA finding the telco further failed to “take practicable steps” to ensure sufficient network resiliency and appropriate monitoring capabilities for some of its infrastructure.

Optus acknowledges it has disappointed customers. Photo: Shutterstock

Long road to brand recovery

National communications consumer organisation, the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN), welcomed Optus’ $12 million fine and praised ACMA for having held the telco to account.

“Triple Zero is a lynchpin of public safety, and the fine levelled at Optus is an important measure of accountability for companies who put consumer wellbeing at risk,” said ACCAN chief executive Carol Bennett.

Bennett further noted that Optus – which has been marked Australia’s “least trusted brand” following its outage and landmark data breach in 2022 – will need to “work to restore [its] relationship with Australian consumers”.

“The 2022 data breach, 2023 outage and alleged misselling to vulnerable customers has seen them plummet to become the most distrusted company in Australia,” said Bennett.

An Optus spokesperson said the company remains “committed to continuously improving” support for its customers at “critical times”.

“We know we let our customers down – particularly those who should have received a welfare check from Optus,” they said.

“Our entire team is committed to addressing all lessons from the outage.”

The company has reviewed its systems and processes in the wake of the outage, resulting in “important changes” to how it manages emergency calls during network challenges.

The outage also saw Optus pay a measly $481,083 in cash compensation across 1,049 individual consumers, 15 small and medium businesses, and fifteen of its enterprise customers.

Outage sparks regulatory actions

ACMA noted that following a post incident review of the outage, the federal government agreed to a “comprehensive set” of regulatory actions to “improve the performance of the entire telecommunications sector” when dealing with network outages.

These regulatory actions will demand better communications by telcos with their customers and other stakeholders during outages, alongside regular systems testing and measures to ensure emergency calls can be carried by other carriers when needed.

One recommendation of the review suggested carriers conduct “6-monthly end-to-end testing of all aspects of the Triple Zero ecosystem within and across networks”, while another proposed the formation of a Triple Zero “custodian” – potentially in the form of a new body – which oversees the efficient functioning of the Triple Zero ecosystem.

“Optus will continue to cooperate and work with the ACMA, Government and regulatory authorities on new industry standards and the other recommendations of [the review],” an Optus spokesperson said.

Finally, ACMA has forecasted a new industry standard which will require a minimum level of customer communications from telcos during outages.