Watchdog powers to put pressure on telecommunications companies over triple-0 chaos
The Government will give a triple-0 Custodian strong powers to demand information from telecommunications companies to help regulators monitor performance of the emergency hotline and respond quickly to outages.
Communications Minister Anika Wells will put new laws to Parliament on Tuesday aimed at cementing the powers of the custodian.
She has also set in place new rules under the Australian Communications and Media Authority that require telcos to give real-time updates on any triple-0 outages starting from November 1.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.They’ll also have to test triple-0 during upgrades and maintenance work and ensure calls to the emergency number fall back to other networks if there are any problems.
The new custodian will issue further performance requirements to telcos within six months of the new laws passing.
The raft of measures were flagged more than a year ago by the previous minister, Michelle Rowland, when she tasked the regulator to amend emergency call service legislation after an Optus outage in November 2023.
Optus suffered a further 13-hour triple-0 outage in September, linked to the deaths of two people in WA and one in SA, and another, shorter outage last week.
Ms Wells has faced pressure over why the Government hadn’t enacted the full range of recommendations from the 2023 incident yet.
However, the Government has also been angry at Optus for failing to implement measures on its end that could have helped it identify the outage faster.
“Optus failed its customers, failed its obligations, and needs to do better and we’ll ensure that they do,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Monday.
The custodian role has already been established within the Communications Department but legislation is required to give it stronger powers.
Ms Wells said the custodian would make sure the emergency system was continually improved.
“We know Australians’ confidence in triple-0 has been shaken, and it’s vital that it’s rebuilt,” she said.
“The law in Australia is clear: if an outage occurs, telcos must make sure that triple-0 calls still connect by being redirected to alternate mobile towers – that responsibility rests with them.”
The minister wrote to the Optus, Telstra and TPG bosses over the weekend calling them in for a meeting on Tuesday to discuss their readiness for the summer bushfire season.
