Optus Outage Tied to Upgrade Failures
- An inquiry into Optus’s emergency call outage has identified multiple failures during a routine firewall upgrade.
- The incident left hundreds unable to reach police, fire or ambulance services, and two deaths were linked to the disruption.
- Investigators found procedural gaps, poor oversight and flawed decision-making across both Optus and its contractor.
Findings of the Internal Review
Optus released the results of an independent internal investigation into the September 18 outage, which lasted nearly 14 hours. The review found at least ten errors during a planned network upgrade conducted shortly after midnight. Incorrect instructions were issued by Optus to its contractor, Nokia, and the equipment maker approved an unsuitable upgrade method. This approach shut down critical systems without redirecting calls, leading to widespread service failures.
Normal voice calls eventually rerouted through alternative pathways, allowing most users to continue making standard connections. Emergency calls to Triple Zero, however, did not follow the same fallback route. As a result, 605 people attempted to reach emergency services during the outage, and roughly three‑quarters of those calls failed. Two of the unsuccessful attempts were associated with fatalities, underscoring the severity of the disruption.
Procedural and Cultural Issues
The report’s author, Kerry Schott, highlighted significant shortcomings in operational management. She noted that processes were ignored, incorrect procedures were chosen, and essential checks were either inadequate or bypassed. Alerts were not given sufficient attention, contributing to delays in identifying and addressing the problem. The review also pointed to weaknesses in accountability, escalation protocols and information flow within Optus.
Optus acknowledged that cultural challenges within the organisation affected decision‑making and response times. These issues compounded the technical failures and slowed the company’s ability to mitigate the outage. The findings prompted Optus to outline a series of internal reforms aimed at strengthening oversight. The company stated that it is committed to addressing the structural problems identified in the review.
Recommendations and Next Steps
The investigation produced 21 recommendations aimed at preventing similar incidents. Proposed measures include improving network change‑management procedures, enhancing escalation pathways and upgrading incident detection systems. Strengthening crisis response capabilities for emergency service outages was also emphasised. Optus’s board accepted all recommendations during its December 16 meeting and pledged to implement them quickly.
Further actions will be taken regarding individual accountability, according to Optus Chairman John Arthur. He said consequences may range from financial penalties to termination where appropriate. The company aims to restore confidence by demonstrating that lessons from the outage are being applied. Nokia did not comment on the findings, and the report did not specify whether additional external reviews would follow.
Australia’s Triple Zero system has faced scrutiny in recent years as emergency services increasingly rely on complex digital infrastructure. Telecommunications experts note that redundancy mechanisms for emergency call routing vary across networks, making them vulnerable during misconfigured upgrades. Several countries have begun reassessing their emergency call frameworks to reduce dependence on single‑point systems. The Optus incident may accelerate similar reviews in Australia as regulators evaluate long‑term resilience.
