{"id":238503,"date":"2025-09-19T08:42:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T08:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/238503\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T08:42:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T08:42:11","slug":"optus-network-failure-impacted-triple-0-calls-in-several-states-where-patients-died-after-unacceptable-lapse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/238503\/","title":{"rendered":"Optus network failure impacted triple-0 calls in several states where patients died after ‘unacceptable’ lapse"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three people have died after a “technical failure” impacted hundreds of triple-0 calls on the Optus network, its CEO has revealed.<\/p>\n

Stephen Rue confirmed late Friday afternoon that a technical problem resulted in the failure of triple-0 emergency calls in South Australia, the Northern Territory and Western Australia.<\/p>\n

The calls were impacted by a network update on Thursday, the CEO said.<\/p>\n

Two of the deaths were <\/strong>from South Australia and one was from Western Australia.<\/p>\n

“Our investigation is ongoing but at this stage I can confirm that approximately 600 customers were potentially impacted, of which a proportion of their calls did not go through,” Mr Rue said.<\/p>\n

“During the process of conducting welfare checks, three of the triple-0 calls involved households where a person tragically passed away.”<\/p>\n

He confirmed the technical failure has now been rectified.<\/p>\n

“I want to offer a sincere apology to all customers who could not connect to emergency services when they needed them most,” he added.<\/p>\n

“I am so sorry for your loss. What has happened is completely unacceptable. We have let you down.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mr Rue confirmed that normal calls were going through in those regions and it was just the triple-0 service that was affected.<\/p>\n

“You have my assurance that we are conducting a thorough investigation and once concluded, we will share the facts of the incident publicly,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Stephen Rue said the failure was “unacceptable”. (ABC News: John Gunn)<\/p>\n

“We will cooperate fully and transparently with all relevant government agencies and regulatory bodies while we investigate this matter further.”<\/p>\n

This is not the first time an Optus service failure has disrupted triple-0 calls.<\/p>\n

Optus experienced a nationwide network outage on 8 November 2023 which caused significant disruption across Australia for individuals and businesses.<\/p>\n

The ACMA found Optus failed to provide access to the emergency call service for 2,145 people during the course of that outage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Optus then failed to conduct 369 welfare checks on people who had tried to make an emergency call during the outage.<\/p>\n

The telecommunications company was subsequently hit with more than $12 million in penalties<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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