Communications giant Optus has revealed 10 times as more people were unable to connect to the triple-0 service during its major network outage than the company first reported.
Optus told a Senate inquiry and the regulator last year that only 228 customers had failed to get through to the emergency line because of the November 8 outage that lasted 12 hours.
However, on Tuesday it revealed a further 2468 customers had been unable to connect to triple-0 during the outage.
The federal government confirmed that Optus had advised the information it previously provided to the Senate, the public and the regulator was “not accurate”.
“This is a deeply concerning development given the critical importance of the triple-0 service,” Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said in a statement.
Telcos are required to conduct welfare checks on people who tried and failed to call emergency services during network outages, under regulations introduced in 2019.
Optus’ interim chief executive Michael Venter offered his “deepest apologies” to affected customers on Tuesday.
“We are writing to each customer individually to apologise for this and provide the opportunity to discuss their specific circumstances, and whether there is anything we can do to assist them further,” he said.
At the Senate inquiry later, then Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin said about 200 customers unable to make emergency calls to triple-0.
She resigned as CEO days after she gave evidence.
She was appointed to the role in April 2020 and this month’s widespread outage came after a major data breach last year that exposed the personal data of 10 million Australians and triggered multiple investigations and a class action lawsuit.
