Labor commissions review into Optus failure

Labor has announced a review into the recent network outage which affected about 10 million Australians, including whether changes are needed to ensure access to emergency calls.

Optus has suffered two major outages in the last two years.

Labor’s review into the Optus outage will consider whether regulatory changes are needed for the telecommunications sector, including to ensure there is access to triple-zero emergency calls during network blackouts.

The review, to be headed by former head of the Australian Communications and Media Authority Richard Bean, will report by the end of February 2024 after examining the role of government in responding to national service outages.

The review will not assess whether Optus complied with “current regulatory obligations”, leaving that issue for ACMA.

It will also not investigate the technical causes of the outage or the adequacy of compensation.

Mr Bean, the executive director for ad standards, will examine the compensation processes for consumers and small businesses affected by the outage and the circumstances in which other networks could be relied on to support a network subject to a major outage.

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said the recent Optus outage “caused significant disruption to the lives of millions of Australians, impacted small businesses, and left many without the ability to contact emergency services”.

“We need to learn the lessons from this serious incident, because no network is immune from technical faults or outages,” she said.

“The Albanese government’s post-incident review will help industry identify where its processes need to be strengthened, and provide advice to government on potential reforms.

“Australians expect and deserve better from their communications service providers when these kinds of incidents arise and I would encourage all to have their say – from impacted businesses and industry through to consumers.”

Optus chief executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin resigned last week after the massive outage that was the second reputational disaster on her watch after last year’s cyber attack.

Her announcement followed an appearance at a Senate inquiry where she revealed that Optus did not plan for a national outage, and she was not aware of the extent of the crisis until 3½ hours after the network collapsed.

Optus had initially suggested the outage followed a “routine upgrade” by its Singapore ­government-­controlled owner Singtel but after Singtel said this was not the root cause for the outage, Optus clarified that the fault was within its own network.

Last year’s cyber attack cost Optus $140m; the damage bill from the outage was expected to be three times higher.

Maybank – one of Asia’s biggest banks – estimated compensation claims could hit $400m and told Singtel investors it expected customers to ditch Optus for rivals Telstra and TPG-owned Vodafone.

The government said it would consult widely with industry and consumer stakeholders. ACMA has already commenced an assessment to investigate Optus’s compliance with the existing regulatory framework.