The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has fined Optus and its subsidiaries $12 million for failing to respond to emergency Triple Zero calls during a significant outage last year. The company’s failure to conduct welfare checks on impacted persons is another issue covered by the penalties.
In January, Optus acknowledged the extent of the issues and issued a public apology. According to ACMA, the penalty relates to failed emergency calls for 2,145 people during the outage, as well as the absence of welfare checks for 369 individuals.
ACMA Chair Nerida O’Loughlin emphasized the seriousness of the breaches, stating that the penalty amount reflects the importance of maintaining reliable emergency services. “Triple Zero availability is the most fundamental service telcos must provide to the public,” she said.
The ACMA investigation found that Optus improperly managed its network, stating that the telco should have configured its core routers to handle an unforeseen spike in routing information from an upstream source, rather than relying on default settings. Furthermore, Optus’s out-of-band (OOB) network capabilities were insufficient for carrying out administrative and diagnostic duties during an outage, according to ACMA.
O’Loughlin noted that a government-led review after the incident identified additional deficiencies. She also noted that the outage has since prompted changes in regulatory requirements for emergency call services across the industry.
