Optus will have to pay a record $100 million fine for endangering its customers, after it admitted a technical failure which made users unable to call triple zero was due to human error. Four people have been confirmed dead due to the outage.

Macquarie Park

Optus has acknowledged that a recent triple zero emergency call failure was the result of human error during a system upgrade, with staff and contractors in both Australia and India deviating from established procedures. As a result, calls were not correctly diverted, though a quarter of affected customers were able to connect through other carriers. The company has appointed Dr Kerry Schott to investigate the incident, and its parent company, Singtel Group, has issued an apology to customers and those affected by the loss of life.

In addition to the emergency call failure, Optus has been fined a record $100 million by the federal court for unconscionable conduct between 2019 and 2023. The penalty relates to staff putting undue pressure on vulnerable customers, including those with intellectual disabilities, Indigenous Australians, and people experiencing homelessness or financial hardship. The current CEO, Stephen Rue, stated that these actions occurred before his tenure and that he has initiated a company-wide review to address such behaviour.

Optus admits human error caused triple zero crisis

As the nation awaits answers as to how the nightmare triple zero failure occurred, a CEO under immense pressure steps up to the podium again. That is a result of human error, that's correct, in terms of instructions provided. Optus has confirmed there was a deviation from established procedures during a system upgrade conducted by staff and contractors in Australia and India. Calls were not correctly diverted to another part of the network. We've now learned a quarter of affected customers did manage to get through by being connected through other carriers. The telco has appointed prominent, private and public industry leader Dr Kerry Schott to probe the handling of the incident. Optus's parent company, the Singapore-based Singtel Group, has apologised to customers. Its statement adds, our hearts go out to the families and friends of those who passed away. There are no words, no words that can express how sorry I am about the very sad loss of the lives of four people. And after days of scrutiny over his role, CEO Stephen Rue again deflected on suggestions he stepped down, instead insisting he wants to implement changes. It's not about me. What we have here is lives have been lost. What we have here is a failure of a triple zero. What we have here is processes in call centres, but also in network not being followed. All on a day where Optus took a huge hit for an unrelated matter in the federal court, slapped with a record $100 million fine for unconscionable conduct between 2019 and 2023. A penalty Optus agreed to after staff put undue pressure on vulnerable customers, including people with intellectual disabilities, Indigenous and those facing homelessness or financial hardship, conduct before the CEO took over. One of the very first things that I did was set up a whole of company review because that behaviour is totally and utterly unacceptable. Brianna Boylan, 10 News.

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Breakdown