optus Faces Scrutiny After Sending Outage Notifications to Incorrect Address During Emergency
CANBERRA,AUSTRALIA - Australian telecommunications company Optus is under fire after it was revealed the company sent critical outage notifications to an outdated email address during a nationwide service disruption on September 18th,delaying authorities’ awareness of the issue by over 36 hours. The outage has been linked to four deaths, including an eight-week-old baby, as individuals were unable to reach emergency services.
Initial emails from Optus, sent at 2:45 PM and 2:52 PM local time on September 18th, downplayed the severity of the outage, claiming it was resolved and affected only 10 calls. Though,more than 600 calls to emergency services ultimately failed during the 13-hour disruption.
Australian authorities were not informed of the outage until the following afternoon by the industry regulator. James Chisholm, Australia’s Deputy Secretary for Communications, told parliament on Wednesday that the notification “was sent to the wrong address, which we have told industry a number of times is not to be used as a source for notification.”
The email address was changed a week before the outage, following a two-week notice period to telecommunications companies. Chisholm further stated Optus failed to comply with regulations requiring telcos to redirect triple-0 calls to alternative providers during outages.
Optus attributed the outage to a deviation from standard procedures during a routine firewall upgrade. The company, wholly owned by Singapore’s Singtel, is currently under investigation by Australia’s media regulator to determine if any laws were breached.
Singapore’s Prime Minister lawrence Wong, visiting Australia, expressed condolences and stated, “I understand fully the anger, frustration and outrage at what has happened… it was tragic that four people had died because of it.” He added, “From a government’s viewpoint, we expect our companies to act responsibly, and we will certainly expect Singtel and Optus to comply with the laws and do whatever they can to cooperate with the investigation.” Temasek Holdings, a Singapore state-owned investment fund, holds a 51% stake in Singtel.
This incident adds to a series of recent issues for Optus, including a 2022 cyberattack that compromised the data of millions of customers and a nationwide outage in 2023 that left millions without service for up to 12 hours. Former CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin resigned in 2023 following criticism of the company’s handling of the 2023 outage,and current CEO Stephen Rue is now facing calls to step down,with some lawmakers advocating for the revocation of optus’ operating licence.
