Peak communications consumer body, ACCAN, has today expressed deep concern over reports of another outage restricting access to regular and emergency communications services to Optus customers in the Illawarra region, and is calling on the Communications Minister to introduce strong, independent oversight of Optus' Triple Zero systems via the imposition of a new licence condition.
This is the second Optus outage to affect Triple Zero services in as many weeks. ACCAN has previously outlined three reform priorities, but the urgency of reform has now only increased.
ACCAN CEO Carol Bennett said that Australians demand certainty that they can stake their safety on properly functioning Triple Zero services when they need them the most.
"A Triple Zero outage has now happened twice in 10 days at Optus. This weekend's outage follows the 2023 nationwide Optus outage that left 2000 calls to Triple Zero unanswered and the outage on 18 September linked to at least 3 deaths."
"Every time the network goes down, it undermines public confidence and puts people at risk. This can be catastrophic and cause immense harm. The community must have confidence that the emergency call system works 100% of the time when they most need it," Ms Bennett said.
"Before these devastating outages, Optus was already facing major consumer trust issues. Now this lack of trust is spreading to damage confidence in our emergency service system itself."
"Australians are seeing a repeat of failures to provide the reliable service that they need and deserve. The Communications Minister must act and use carrier licence conditions to mandate independent technical oversight of Optus' emergency and network reliability systems. This would provide some assurance that there is strict oversight preventing further failures."
"The Triple Zero Custodian framework recommended after the 2023 Optus outage should also be fast tracked through Parliament to provide confidence that the entire emergency call ecosystem is being independently monitored."
Ms Bennett said that while the Illawarra outage may not have had the same tragic consequences as previous failures, it served as a stark reminder that the current system is not fit for purpose.
"Telcos must be held accountable for delivering a critical safety service, and government must act to ensure safe, reliable and fair communications services for all Australians," Ms Bennett concluded.
About us:
The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) is Australia's peak communication consumer organisation. The operation of ACCAN is made possible by funding provided by the Commonwealth of Australia under section 593 of the Telecommunications Act 1997. This funding is recovered from charges on telecommunications carriers.
