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Singtel Apologizes After Deadly Optus Outage in Australia

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Singapore Telecommunications (Singtel), the parent company of Australia’s second-largest telecom operator Optus, issued an apology on Wednesday after a major network outage disrupted emergency calls and has been linked to four deaths.

Singtel Group CEO Yuen Kuan Moon said the company is working with the Optus board to investigate last week’s 13-hour outage and to ensure such failures do not happen again. “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.

Optus revealed that the disruption stemmed from a network firewall upgrade gone wrong, leaving about 600 customers—some in remote areas—unable to make phone calls, including emergency calls.

Public anger over the outage has intensified, with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese calling the incident “completely unacceptable.”

Optus CEO Stephen Rue admitted that procedures were not followed during the incident and said preliminary checks suggested human error may have been a factor.

Kerry Schott, a non-executive director at AGL Energy, will lead an independent review into the failure. Rue said the review will focus on the technical causes, internal processes, and how triple-0 calls were managed during the outage.

The review is expected to be completed by the end of the year, with results first reported to the Optus board and then made public.

Optus admits process failure caused fatal emergency call outage

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Optus, Australia’s second-largest telecom operator, said on Sunday that a failure to follow established procedures during a firewall upgrade triggered the 13-hour outage of emergency call services last week, an incident now linked to the deaths of four people.

The outage, which ran from 12:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Thursday, potentially affected 600 customers across South Australia, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory. Optus CEO Stephen Rue acknowledged the company’s initial investigation found staff departed from standard processes during the upgrade.

Five customers contacted Optus’ call centre during the outage, but their concerns were never escalated. “That is clearly not good enough,” Rue said, adding: “I want to reiterate how sorry I am about the very sad loss of the lives of four people, who could not reach emergency services in their time of need.”

The fatalities include an eight-week-old boy, a 68-year-old woman, and two men aged 74 and 49, police confirmed.

The Australian government has already launched an investigation, calling the failure “unacceptable.” Optus, owned by Singapore Telecommunications (Singtel), said it would cooperate fully and publish the results of its internal review.

The outage is the latest in a series of crises for Optus. In 2022, it suffered a cyberattack that exposed data from 9.5 million Australians. In 2023, it was fined A$12 million ($7.9 million) for failing to provide emergency call services during another nationwide outage. The repeated failures led to the resignation of then-CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, with Rue taking over in late 2024.

The incident has intensified pressure on Optus and regulators to strengthen oversight of critical telecom infrastructure, as public confidence in the carrier continues to erode.

Optus pledges cooperation after deadly emergency call outage sparks outrage

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Australia’s Optus, the country’s second-largest telecom carrier, vowed Saturday to cooperate fully with government and police investigations after a 13-hour outage of emergency call services coincided with the deaths of three people, including an eight-week-old infant.

The outage, caused by a firewall upgrade gone wrong, disrupted emergency access from 12:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Thursday across parts of South Australia, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory, potentially affecting around 600 customers. Optus CEO Stephen Rue, in his second press conference since the incident, apologized again and said the company had completed welfare checks, handing unresolved cases to police.

Authorities confirmed the deaths of a baby boy and a 68-year-old woman in South Australia; a 74-year-old man in Western Australia also reportedly died during the outage. While the direct link between the failures and the fatalities is under investigation, the tragedy has fueled public anger and political scrutiny.

The Australian government labeled the failure “completely unacceptable” and pledged a full review. Optus, owned by Singapore Telecommunications (Singtel), is already under pressure after a series of crises: a 2022 cyberattack that compromised data of 9.5 million Australians, and a 2023 nationwide outage that led to a A$12 million fine and the resignation of former CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin. Rue, who took over in November 2024, faces mounting pressure to restore trust.

Optus said it has fixed the fault and will make the results of its internal investigation public. But with public outrage building, regulators are expected to push for stricter safeguards on telecom providers’ responsibility to guarantee emergency call access.