Optus Apologises After Network Outage Disrupts Emergency Calls

Optus has apologised to customers after a network outage disrupted voice services across several Australian states and affected some emergency calls, raising fresh concerns about the reliability of the country’s second-largest telecommunications provider.

The 76-minute technical disruption occurred on Friday and affected Optus voice calling services in parts of Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory. Some customers experienced intermittent call dropouts during the outage.

“We sincerely apologise to customers for the disruption,” Optus said in a statement on Saturday.

The latest Optus network outage has attracted government scrutiny because of its impact on calls to Australia’s triple-0 emergency service. Police in Victoria conducted around 40 welfare checks involving callers affected by the disruption.

A Victoria Police spokesperson said there were no adverse outcomes or other significant issues linked to those cases.

Senior government minister Chris Bowen described the incident as “deeply concerning” and confirmed that investigations were underway. He stressed that telecommunications providers have an obligation to ensure technology supporting triple-0 emergency calls remains in proper working condition.

The incident adds to concerns surrounding Optus following previous network failures. An outage last year prevented hundreds of people from reaching police, fire and ambulance services and was linked to two deaths.

Optus, which is owned by Singapore Telecommunications, has also faced regulatory action over earlier disruptions. In 2024, Australian regulators fined the telecom company A$12 million for failing to provide emergency calling services to thousands of customers during a nationwide network outage in 2023.

The carrier has additionally faced cybersecurity challenges. A major Optus cyberattack in 2022 compromised data belonging to approximately 9.5 million Australians.

Friday’s outage is likely to intensify scrutiny of Optus as authorities investigate what caused the technical failure and assess the resilience of its emergency calling infrastructure.