Optus CEO apologises after triple-0 failure

Optus has admitted responsibility for a catastrophic network failure that prevented hundreds of Australians from reaching emergency services, with the company’s CEO describing the events as “very sad” and expressing deep remorse for those affected.

On Wednesday, Optus Chief Executive Officer Stephen Rue provided an update on the September 18 triple-0 outage, which has been linked to the deaths of three people.

“There are no words I can express how sorry I am about the very sad loss of the lives of people who could not reach emergency services in their time of need,” Mr Rue said.

The outage, which lasted for about 13 hours, began during a scheduled firewall upgrade in South Australia at 12.30am.

While normal calls were largely unaffected, around 600 triple-0 calls failed to connect, with the failure spreading to Western Australia, the Northern Territory, and NSW.

Preliminary internal investigations indicate the outage was caused by a deviation from established upgrade procedures.

“On the first night of the upgrade, the steps taken on past successful upgrades of a similar nature were not followed,” Mr Rue said.

“This issue occurred because there was a deviation from established processes.”

He explained that the first step, diverting calls away from the core part of the network, was not completed, confirming “it was a result of human error” rather than a technical failure.

Of the 631 customers who initially failed to connect, 86 eventually reached triple-0 through the Optus network, and 65 reached emergency services by switching to another carrier, such as Telstra or TPG.

This left about 480 customers who could not get through.

The incident prompted Optus to appoint former NBN director Dr Kerry Schott to lead an independent review into the failure.

The review will examine the causes of the outage, the management of triple-0 calls across the Optus network, adherence to operational policies and legislative requirements, and the company’s response to the incident.

Dr Schott has extensive experience at the executive and board level in the public and private sectors, including telecommunications, energy, and infrastructure. The company has committed to releasing the report once the review is completed.

The independent review, alongside Optus’s ongoing internal investigations, will explore why these calls failed to connect.

In response, Optus said it has implemented a compulsory escalation process for any customer reports of triple-0 failures and is monitoring call volumes and failure rates across the country 24/7.

When asked if Optus would provide regular updates on the outage review, Mr Rue said he was “very happy to give appropriate updates” but stressed the importance of waiting for the independent report.

The CEO also batted away suggestions that the outage was linked to cost-cutting or overseas operations.

“Regardless of where a process is conducted, the issue was that a process was not followed. And to be very clear, the accountability for that rests with Optus,” he said.

Optus has some 3600 overseas call centre workers across India and the Philippines and about 250 centre operators within Australia.

It is understood at least five Optus customers contacted overseas centres during the outage to report that triple-0 calls were not getting through, but operators failed to escalate those warnings.

Mr Rue also confirmed he is seeking advice from authorities on the appropriateness of personally reaching out to the families affected by the outage.

“It is my desire to do so,” he said.

Singtel Group CEO Yuen Kuan Moon, Optus’s parent company, also issued an apology on Wednesday.

“We are deeply sorry to learn about the network incident at our Optus subsidiary that has impacted triple-0 calls, and to hear that customers could not connect to emergency services when they most needed them,” he said in a statement.

“Our hearts go out to the families and friends of those who have passed away and we know that Optus will get to the bottom of this matter.”

Mr Moon said they are working with the Optus board and management to ensure there is a “thorough investigation”.

The event has sparked outrage across Australia.

Federal communications minister Anika Wells said Optus had “failed the Australian people” and warned the telco would face “significant consequences” for the outage.

“Optus and all telecommunications providers have obligations under Australian law to make sure emergency services calls go through,” she said.

The company suffered a triple-0 outage in 2023 that impacted 2145 people.

In response to the 2023 event, Optus implemented 18 government recommendations to prevent any future outages.

Mr Rue has since confirmed that Australians did raise concerns during the latest outage, but those reports were not escalated as they should have been.

On Monday, South Australian Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young called for the resignation of Mr Rue and said Optus should cop a penalty greater than the $12m fine it received for the 2023 failure.

The Senator said it was time for “direct regulation” of the broader telecommunications industry.

“These big corporations have written their own rules for too long and it’s time that stopped,” she said.

“We need proper laws in place, proper enforcement.”

The triple-0 outage comes as Optus faces a separate Federal Court ruling later on Wednesday regarding penalties proposed by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission for alleged unconscionable conduct and inappropriate sales practices between 2019 and 2023.

“That behaviour is totally and utterly unacceptable,” Mr Rue said.

He added that one of his first actions as CEO was to overhaul sales processes, review incentive schemes and buy back franchise stores implicated in misconduct.

Optus said it would issue a statement once the court delivers its decision.