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“All telcos need to have systems in place that ensure they are meeting their obligations, including having robust oversight and assurance processes for third-party suppliers.”
Yorke said that if Optus fails to further comply it could face action in the Federal Court, which can order penalties of up to $10 million per breach.
The investigation is separate to last year’s mass Optus outage, in which more than 2000 Optus customers were unable to get through to triple-zero over a 16-hour period.
Former Optus chief executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin during a Senate hearing in November 2023.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Then-Optus chief Kelly Bayer Rosmarin told a Senate inquiry last year that more than 200 triple-zero emergency calls were unable to connect during the company’s outage on November 8, then revealing in January that the real number was more than ten times higher.
“We don’t manage the triple-zero system. It’s a very complex system that involves all the carriers ... We’re still investigating that, and we’re really happy that the ACMA has called an investigation into why this did not work,” Bayer Rosmarin said at the time.
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Bayer Rosmarin resigned days after the outage and Optus is yet to appoint a replacement.
ACMA is currently conducting an independent investigation into Optus’ compliance with triple-zero regulations.
Telstra’s boss Vicki Brady apologised last week for a 90-minute triple-zero outage, in which at least one person died after their call for help was delayed. Telstra is still investigating what caused the delay.
Telstra was fined $300,000 in November last year for failing to provide accurate details of thousands of its customers to the emergency services database.
An Optus spokesperson on Tuesday apologised for the latest incident. “Optus accepts that proper audits and checks were not in place to ensure IPND obligations were being met for services we supply through our partner brands. We apologise for this and accept that we have not met community expectations,” they said.
“Optus has now introduced those audits and checks-over its supplier’s performance to ensure this issue is not repeated.
“Optus accepts the ACMA’s findings and has agreed to an Enforceable Undertaking to complete an independent review of the processes used to manage compliance with our IPND obligations for these partner brands and make any further improvements if required.”
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