Optus outage cripples federal comms department staff

A government submission that sought to explain the impact of the Optus outage has revealed two out of three federal communications department staff with Optus mobiles could not dial the Triple Zero on the morning of the Optus outage.

The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts lodged a submission to the Optus outage inquiry detailed that the agency ran its own informal tests after concerns were raised by Telstra that calls from Optus mobiles may not be getting through.

“It was confirmed with Telstra, in its role as the Emergency Call Person under the Determination, that calls from Optus fixed line services could not access Triple Zero,” the submission reads. “The inability to access Triple Zero from a fixed line service when a network outage is being experienced is as expected, as the fixed line will not operate at all in this circumstance.”

The submission asserted Triple Zero calls from Optus mobile telephones should have been carried over other available mobile networks.

At 9:28am on 8 November, Telstra advised the Department that it suspected Optus subscribers were having difficulties attempting to access Triple Zero. The report did not explain how Telstra detected the issue with Optus and Triple Zero, but the submission inferred that Telstra was alerted with high call volumes before the outage.

“Departmental staff with Optus phones conducted test calls; two could not access Triple Zero, while one was successfully carried.”

Australian media reported that the federal opposition is calling for a probe into why 228 calls made to a Triple Zero during the Optus outage failed to connect. An investigation will shed light into “what went wrong” especially with the 000 calls that did not get through.

According to the deparment, Telstra’s advisory said not all emergency from Optus mobiles failed. “A large number… were being successfully received,” Telstra claimed.

Telstra sought advice from state-based emergency service organisations on their ability to deal with calls for assistance but “the process was hampered by the Optus outage itself.”

Former Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin admitted she did not know why some calls failed when she faced the Senate inquiry.

How the government will support affected customers
According to the Department, customers who were affected have existing options to obtain compensation or redress in relation duties owed to them:

– Customers can raise their complaint with their provider in the first instance.
– Customers can then take their complaint to the TIO if they are unhappy with their provider’s response to their concern.
– They can also take their claim to the relevant court or tribunal, including in relation to the Australian Consumer Law and their contract with their provider.

Last week, Optus’ submission to the Senate that revealed the cause of the outage argued making a telco pay a financial compensation for losses is not a precedent that should be set. Optus said there is no precedent for essential services such as electricity providers to pay compensation for business losses when there is an outage.

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