What a week it’s been for Optus. Though it feels like we could have been able to write that sentence at many points over the last few years.
On Thursday afternoon, it alerted the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) and the communications minister Anika Wells about outages on its network.
The pair didn’t hear anything further, Wells said, until about 24 hours later on Friday afternoon when Optus informed them the outage had affected about 100 calls.
“Shortly after 4pm we were told the outage had affected 600 calls,” Wells added.
“Then, we found out from our department that there had been three deaths, and then we were told there would be a press conference from the CEO of Optus shortly.”
ACMA chair Nerida O’Loughlin said Optus’ emails on Thursday were “pretty perfunctory” and added some were “inaccurate”.
“It wasn’t until the Friday, very late in the day before the press conference, where we were informed by the CEO that there were 624 calls in play and of the deaths,” O’Loughlin said.
Optus CEO Stephen Rue told the country on Friday it had launched an investigation into the outages.
“I want to offer a sincere apology to all customers who could not connect to emergency services when they needed them most,” Rue said.
“And I offer my most sincere and heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of the people who passed away. I am so sorry for your loss. What has happened is completely unacceptable. We have let you down. You have my assurance that we are conducting a thorough investigation and once concluded we will share the facts of the incident publicly.”
On Saturday (20 September) Rue confirmed that the outage was due to a firewall upgrade and three people had died during the outages after being unable to reach the emergency services.
Sunday, Rue said that four people had died during the outage and said he acknowledged the connection failures created “immense additional distress” for other customers who attempted to contact Triple Zero on Thursday.
He added that “early investigations” showed established processes were not followed during the upgrade to the system and that Optus was speaking to “the individuals involved”.
The “full technical detail” of the network failure will need to wait for the investigation.
Yesterday, Rue said Optus had identified an additional seven customers who were unable to contact Triple Zero on Thursday.
ACMA had its say on the matter yesterday, announcing it had commenced an investigation into Optus and its response.
Wells said Optus had “perpetuated a failure upon the Australian people, and they can expect to suffer significant consequences as a result”.
However, Wells noted that Telstra and TPG Telecom had also had Triple Zero problems before, and that it is likely the whole industry would have to change.
“We’re going to be considered with our response [to Optus], but there will be consequences for Telstra and the broader telecommunications sector,” Wells said.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told the ABC from New York that “Optus has obligations, as do other communications companies, and clearly they haven’t fulfilled the obligations that they have”.
“What we want is to ensure that something like this shouldn’t happen.”
When asked if Rue should be considering his position, he said: “I would be surprised if that wasn’t occurring.
South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas said he had never witnessed “such incompetence”.
Since Friday, Optus’ parent company Singtel has seen its shares dip more than 3 per cent against a broadly flat market.
WA opposition leader Basil Zempilas told 6PR radio yesterday that Optus should have its naming rights sponsorship of the Optus Stadium in Perth stripped.
The telco signed a 10-year $50 million naming rights deal in 2017 under the McGowan Labor government.
Zempilas told 6PR he didn’t believe Optus needed to undergo an investigation into the incident, as the telco “admitted their failings”.
“This is not innocent until proven guilty,” he said. “Optus have admitted their failings. These are repeated failings now from Optus, and they don’t deserve to have their name on our stadium.”
“I’ve never thought the Optus deal was a good deal for Western Australia,” he said.
“I’ve never been comfortable with giving the naming rights away to our stadium, it’s a missed marketing opportunity, but this is not about marketing right now.”
