Optus’s offer of free data to customers and small businesses left without phone or internet services on Wednesday has been labelled inadequate and a “hollow gesture” as the industry ombudsman advises Optus may be on the hook for more compensation.
On Thursday, the telco’s embattled CEO, Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, said the company was “deeply sorry” for the outage that took down internet and phone services as well as trains, hospital communications and a range of other services for 14 hours on Wednesday.
Bayer Rosmarin said there was “nothing we can do to make up for” the outage, but said the company wanted to acknowledge customer patience and loyalty with 200GB of data for small businesses and consumers, and unlimited data on weekends for eligible prepaid customers until the end of the year.
In an interview with News Corp earlier in the week, the CEO ruled out compensating customers financially, arguing it would amount to about $2 for a day of lost coverage.
Andrew Williams, the chief executive of the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network, said the company’s gesture appeared to be “token”.
“The consensus we’re hearing from consumers is that, frankly, it doesn’t nearly make up for the inconvenience caused by the outage,” he said, noting it was an opt-in offer, which he said made it “even more of a hollow gesture”.
He said most customers do not use up their allotted data allowance, and spend most of their time connected to wifi at home or at work.
“It is doubtful that many customers stand to benefit from the additional data.”
The small business ombudsman, Bruce Billson, said the offer was inadequate.
“Small businesses rely on telecommunications as an essential service, but they have been poorly served by Optus throughout this event and some have suffered a significant economic cost,” he said.
“More needs to be done to acknowledge this impact on the livelihoods of our small and family businesses with a more tailored response.”
The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO), Cynthia Gebert, said the offer wouldn’t meet the expectations of customers who suffered significant loss.
“We encourage Optus to engage with every consumer who contacts them, and to consider what’s fair and reasonable in the circumstances. If consumers are unhappy with the response, they can make a complaint with my office.”
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Simon Morgan, a public relations lecturer at Swinburne University, said the compensation should fit the crime, and offering extra data is “like offering an extra slice of bread in your loaf”.
Williams said Optus should come to the table with a more substantial and tangible offer for affected customers.
The TIO’s page for customers affected by the outage notes that remedies customers might be able to get could include refunds for the time they were unable to use the service, compensation, or a release from contract.
“We will take a careful approach to considering whether compensation is appropriate. The amount of compensation awarded will be proportionate to the extent of the harm suffered,” the TIO said. “It is likely most awards of compensation for non-financial loss will be modest.”
Guardian Australia has sought comment from Optus.
A Senate inquiry launched on Thursday into the outage will also examine the possibility of compensation for affected customers.
Optus yesterday pointed to its “modern intelligent router network” that “triggered a cascading failure which resulted in the shutdown of services”. This was what experts had suggested would have likely been the cause to bring the whole network down at once.
