Optus finally reveals cause of latest triple-0 outage as Singtel boss dodges blame
The Singtel boss has finally answered questions about Optus’s fatal outage, saying it was a ‘people issue’ and a ‘step that was missed’, while Anthony Albanese slams it as a ‘unacceptable failure’ | WATCH
Anthony Albanese has blasted Optus for an ‘unacceptable failure’ after the boss of its Singaporean owner said a fatal triple-0 outage was a “people issue” and it ‘transformation takes time’ as the telco battles its third crisis in as many years.
“We’re not satisfied with any of Optus’s behaviour,” the Prime Minister said.
“Optus has let down its customers and has let down the nation and there will be, of course, an ongoing investigation into how exactly this has occurred.”
Late on Tuesday, Optus finally revealed what stopped its customers from calling ambulance, police and fire services - it’s second meltdown in less than two weeks - in Wollongong on Sunday, and why those calls weren’t automatically diverted to rival carriers.
The nation’s second biggest telco said equipment from its “technical partner” Ericsson “did not appear to operate as it should”.
“Although the tower appeared active on the network, calls attaching to it were impacted and did not transfer to other networks,” Optus said.
“Initial assessments indicate that 5G services were operational at all times but 4G services were not, which prevented calls from connecting. Optus’ 5G does not currently carry voice services in Australia.
“Optus’ ability to detect the outage was impacted as the Ericsson equipment in the cell tower did not alarm that 4G services were not operational.”
Yuen Kuan Moon, chief executive of Optus’s owner Singtel, jetted to Sydney this week for a “routine” board meeting at the telco and to meet Communications Minister Anika Wells as the fallout of a seperate 13-hour outage that blocked customers from calling triple-0.
Facing anger from both sides of politics, and the wrath of state premiers - with South Australia’s Peter Malinauskas reviewing contracts with the telco after branding it ‘incompetent’ - Mr Yuen backed Optus’s leadership.
Mr Yuen reiterated his support for chief executive Stephen Rue, who joined the telco last November after previously helming the government-owned NBN Co.
“We brought in Stephen 11 months ago to transform Optus to really address the issues that we have had since 2022-23. It is very early days. It takes time to transform a company,” Mr Yuen said.
“The initial investigation of the September 18 incident is due to a people issue, and it takes time to transform, and change people.”
Communications Minister Anika Wells has demanded external oversight of Optus following the outage with Mr Yuen attributed to a “people issue”.
“It is really due to a step that was missed by someone at Optus. A process issue, a people issue. They didn’t follow the proper steps that resulted in the outage. We are still investigating that,” he said.
Asked exactly what the problems at Optus are, chairman John Arthur said it was a “complex question”.
“I apologise for making that observation, but it is a complex question. We have recruited Stephen specifically to fix the issues at Optus. He’s been in the job 11 months. The board is satisfied that he’s making progress,” Mr Arthur said.
Mr Arthur said outages – with September 18’s shutdown now linked to three deaths – were also not a result of underinvestment by Singtel.
“The incident on the 18th was a process-related incident. People made mistakes. It was not a question of money. It was not a question of investment, and in due course we will be talking about the extent of Singtel’s investment in Australia, which, of course, goes beyond Optus,” he said.
Optus was fined $12m last year over a separate outage in 2023, which locked more than 2000 Australians out of triple-0, with calls not automatically diverted to rival carriers. It was previously felled by a cyber attack in 2022, which exposed the personal and sensitive details of about 10 million Australians.
Ms Wells said that in her meeting with Mr Yuen she reinforced that a triple-0 outage “must never happen again”.
“Optus and all telecommunications providers have legal obligations under Australian law to make sure calls to emergency services go through. As the parent company of Optus, Singtel is also accountable,” Ms Wells said.
“I have requested Optus employs external advisers to independently assess the company’s network plans to provide confidence to the Australian Communications and Media Authority and the Australian government that these problems will not reoccur.
“We have made clear that Optus is accountable for what happened, and Optus needs to take full responsibility for its obligations to the community.”
Asked how the external oversight the minister has demanded would work, Mr Arthur said: “What it means is that we are going to get all of the expertise and help that we need to make sure we make things right here.”
“Look, I’m not in a position to talk about the specifics of it now, because we’ve just come from the minister’s office, but we will be working with the government to do what is required here,” he said.
On Monday, Optus could not explain what went wrong in a second outage in as many weeks that left customers unable to contact emergency services in Wollongong, while the Albanese government pleaded with Australians to keep the faith in dialling triple-0.
The Singapore-owned telco could not answer the crucial question of why its users were not diverted to other networks when calling triple-0, after a fault in a phone tower left about 4500 customers in Wollongong unable to reach emergency services between 3am and 12.20pm on Sunday.
Optus has so far identified 12 calls that failed to connect to triple-0, with one customer needing to use another person’s phone to call for an ambulance.
Ahead of the grilling from Ms Wells on Tuesday morning, Mr Yuen repeatedly refused to answer questions from The Australian about an outage a fortnight ago that was linked to three deaths. Mr Yuen walked in silence as he was asked on Monday night whether Singtel was responsible for the deaths or whether he wanted to say anything to the families of those who died.
As he walked into the house of Optus chairman Mr Arthur, Mr Yuen would also not answer questions over whether he had confidence in the leadership of his company’s Australian subsidiary.
Saying Optus had “clearly failed here on a number of fronts”, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the government would consider “whether further actions are necessary” as it monitored ACMA’s investigation.
Dr Chalmers said Australians should not lose faith in the efficacy of the triple-0 network.
“One of the reasons for that is, where there has been a shocking failure – like we’ve seen with Optus – the government is getting to the bottom of it,” he said. “And ACMA is the most appropriate body to conduct that very thorough investigation.”
Optus CEO Mr Rue did not address the media to answer questions about the latest triple-0 outage, which the company revealed in two midnight emails on Sunday.
Optus has not identified why emergency arrangements, known as “camp-on”, were not triggered, allowing customers in the impacted areas to be diverted to other carriers for triple-0 calls.
Despite the increasing furore, Singtel sought to downplay the outage, saying it was routine and “limited to one cell site out of 3140 in NSW”.
“Given the heightened sensitivity in Australia around triple-0 calls, Optus communicated this incident to demonstrate full transparency of a type of outage that carriers around the world routinely encounter. This incident did not arise from any upgrade or maintenance action being conducted,” Singtel said in a statement to the Singapore Exchange.
“Optus took the matter very seriously and took action to restore the site. It has confirmed that one person who required emergency services was impacted, but this person was able to call emergency services from another phone successfully.”
Government-owned NBN Co customers were also not able to dial triple-0 via wi-fi during a separate shutdown in Esperance, Western Australia, on Friday, which affected 700 households.
WA police warned the NBN outage “may impact the ability to make phone calls, including emergency triple-0 calls from NBN landline services”.
The weekend incidents came less than two weeks after “human error” during a firewall upgrade of the Optus network – which engineers and contractors in Chennai, India, and Australia performed – triggered the fatal meltdown.
That outage has been linked to three deaths after customers in South Australia, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and NSW border regions could not call emergency services.
Optus was fined $12m last year after more than 2000 Australians could not call triple-0 during an outage in late 2023.
Demanding harsher and more immediate action against Optus, Sussan Ley took aim at Ms Wells for “swanning around in New York” last week talking up the Albanese government’s social media crackdown at a United Nations conference.
“We have had three catastrophic failures and we are calling for an independent inquiry into the whole triple-0 ecosystem,” the Opposition Leader said.
“It isn’t good enough that the minister responsible was swanning around in New York, was absent, and appears missing in action on this critical matter where Australians who are relying on triple-0 have lost their lives, and communities everywhere are desperately looking for answers.”
Ms Wells said the Wollongong outage was a “separate matter” from the shutdown a fortnight ago. “But, obviously, this is disappointing so soon after the major issue Optus has been involved with,” she said.
“ACMA’s investigation will get to the bottom of what has gone wrong, and that investigation will inform the consequences for Optus.”
Of the 12 calls that failed to connect to triple-0 during the Wollongong outage, Optus disclosed that one caller required an ambulance and used another phone to contact emergency services. The caller has since “confirmed they are OK”.
Three callers said they were making test calls to triple-0, while two others accidentally called the number.
Four calls were referred to police to undertake welfare checks – including two from the same address – and “all have been confirmed as OK”.
An ACMA spokesman confirmed the regulator would be investigating the latest outage, describing it as “alarming”.
“The ACMA will be investigating the Optus triple-0 outage that occurred in Dapto, NSW,” a spokesman said.
“This investigation will be separate from the one into the September 18 outage; however, both will examine Optus’s legal obligations for the provision of emergency call services.
“These obligations include ensuring that all emergency calls are successfully carried to the triple-0 service, that welfare checks are conducted for people whose calls to triple-0 are unsuccessful, that customers and the public receive timely and accurate information, and that relevant government agencies and other stakeholders are promptly notified of any outage.
“It is alarming that another outage has occurred so soon after the previous incident. Australians rely on triple-0 in life-threatening situations and the ACMA will be looking closely at the circumstances of each of these incidents.”
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