Singtel issues apology for Optus outage in Australia linked to 3 deaths

Local telecommunications operator Singtel has apologised for a service outage involving its Australian subsidiary Optus that resulted in the deaths of three people.

In an SGX filing on Wednesday (Sept 24), Singtel group CEO Yuen Kuan Moon said that the company is "deeply sorry" for the outage on Sept 18 and that it is working with Optus to "ensure a thorough investigation of this incident to prevent any future recurrence".

"Optus has been co-operating fully and transparently with all relevant government agencies and regulatory bodies while the matter is being investigated and will share the findings in due course," said Yuen.

The outage was caused by a departure from regular processes during a network upgrade, which sparked a technical failure and subsequently disrupted emergency call services for 13 hours.

Some 600 customers across South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory were affected by the glitch, and three deaths have been linked to it. The death of an 8-week-old boy was initially linked to the disruption, but the claim was later dismissed by police, ABC News reported. 

According to Yuen, the Australian telecommunications operator is "in the midst of an ongoing transformation" led by Optus CEO Stephen Rue. He was appointed 11 months ago after then-CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin resigned in the wake of another 14-hour nationwide outage in 2023. 

"We will continue to fully support the Optus board and management team as they work through this incident and accelerate the changes needed," said Yuen in his statement.

He added that Singtel while has invested over A$9.3 billion (S$7.9 billion) in Optus over the past five years to upgrade network infrastructure across Australia, it will continue to invest as necessary so that Optus can provide reliable communication services to all Australians.

Optus to conduct independent review

In a separate filing on Wednesday, Optus said that the Board has appointed Dr Kerry Schott to lead an independent review into the technical failure.

Currently the director of AGL and chairperson of the Carbon Market Institute and Competition Review Panel for the Australian Government, Dr Schott is "an experienced executive and Board director, with a deep understanding of public and private sector organisations", said Optus.

She will lead the review that will investigate the causes of the issue and determine the applicable processes, protocols and operations of the incident.

The review is expected to be completed before the end of the year, where Dr Schott will present her findings to the Optus Board before they are made public.

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dana.leong@asiaone.com