Optus Hit by Another Major Network Outage in Australia

Australian telecommunications giant Optus reported on Monday that it experienced a network outage on Sunday, which temporarily prevented calls to emergency services. This incident comes just over a week after a previous disruption that has been linked to four deaths.

The outage affected thousands of people in New South Wales and lasted more than nine hours, according to the company. Optus confirmed that: “All callers who attempted to contact emergency services are OK, as verified with the police.”

The cause of the outage remains under investigation.

Earlier this month, Optus suffered a separate outage affecting 600 people across South Australia, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory. This disruption lasted at least 10 hours and prevented emergency calls, with four fatalities linked to the incident.

Australia’s Finance Minister Katy Gallagher described the news as: “More disappointing news off the back of the major disruption that happened the week  before.”

She added that Optus would need to explain its handling of the past fortnight’s events and respond to the repeated outages.

Last week, Optus revealed that an independent review would be conducted to investigate the series of outages and determine why emergency calls did not connect.

In a separate matter, the company was fined $66 million for selling unnecessary products to vulnerable customers between 2019 and 2023, leaving many in debt.

Federal Court Justice Patrick O’Sullivan described Optus’ conduct as: “Extremely serious” and “appalling.”

Optus continues to face scrutiny from both regulators and the public as it works to restore trust and ensure the reliability of its network.