Optus, Australia’s second-largest telecom carrier, has pledged to fully cooperate with official investigations after a 13-hour technical failure disrupted emergency call services, leading to the deaths of three people. The incident has intensified public outrage against the company.
Police in South Australia identified two of the deceased as an eight-week-old boy and a 68-year-old woman. Media reports also confirmed the third victim as a 74-year-old man in Western Australia.
At a press conference, Optus CEO Stephen Rue stated, “I promise that we will fully cooperate with any and all investigations in relation to this.” He reiterated his apologies, explaining that the glitch occurred during a firewall upgrade and lasted from 12:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. local time on Thursday.
Around 600 customers in two states and the Northern Territory were potentially affected. Rue said that Optus had completed welfare checks on these individuals, and in cases where contact couldn’t be made, the police were asked to follow up.
The Australian government has promised to investigate the failure, calling it “completely unacceptable.” This incident follows a series of setbacks for the company, including a $12 million fine in 2023 for failing to provide emergency services during a nationwide outage and a cyberattack in 2022 that affected the data of millions of Australians.
