Name: Optus CEO apologizes for 000 outage linked to deaths
Uploaded: 2025-11-03T06:19:15.641Z
Duration: 2 min 3 s
Description: Optus CEO Stephen Rue blamed human error for the triple zero outage during a firewall upgrade, apologised for poor communication, and announced new safety hires after the incident was linked to three deaths.

Optus CEO Stephen Rue blamed human error for the triple zero outage during a firewall upgrade, apologised for poor communication, and announced new safety hires after the incident was linked to three deaths.

Canberra

Optus CEO Stephen Roo appeared before a parliamentary hearing in Canberra to address the 000 emergency call outage that occurred during a firewall upgrade, which has been linked to three deaths. Roo attributed the incident to human error and apologized, stating that the response and communication with regulators and the public were inadequate.

In response to the outage, Optus announced plans to hire 300 staff to monitor emergency services and vulnerable customers, and to establish a 24-7 response team. The company declined to discuss compensation for affected families, citing privacy concerns. The incident follows previous challenges for Optus, including a major cyber attack and a national outage.

Optus CEO apologizes for 000 outage linked to deaths

Held to account. What happened on the 18th of September is unacceptable and I'm deeply sorry. The Optus boss blames human error for a firewall upgrade that triggered the 000 call failure that has been linked to three deaths. This is an explanation, not an excuse. Why weren't you testing the 000 service during an upgrade to make sure it worked? And why did it take more than 24 hours for Optus to alert the public on a Friday evening no less, during which time it fed false information to the government and the regulator. Surely you have an obligation to inform the regulator and the government as soon as you know that the information you had previously given them was wrong. Or as it was put at the time. The emails we received on Thursday were pretty perfunctory and actually some of them were inaccurate. I have not witnessed such incompetence from an Australian corporation. Understandably there are questions arising about my position. But Stephen Roo says Optus needs him to drive through transformation. It is important for Australia that Optus succeeds. The Optus transformation includes hiring 300 people to monitor 000 and also vulnerable customers. There will be a new 24-7 response team in case there are any 000 problems. But the network says no carrier can ever guarantee there will not be an outage. First a cyber attack exposing 10 million Australians, then a national outage and now this. Optus has succeeded in getting every strand of Australian politics against it. The tragic events, the tragic deaths of people during this outage will stay with us as individuals and as a company. He declined to discuss compensation offers, citing privacy concerns for the families involved. Hugh Remington, 10 News.

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