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Optus Blunders: 10 Failures Triggered Triple Zero Outage
18 Dec
Summary
- At least 10 critical errors by Optus and Nokia preceded the outage.
- The outage prevented 605 Australians from reaching emergency services.
- The Schott Review accepted 21 recommendations for Optus improvements.
A recent independent review has uncovered significant failures by Optus and its contractor Nokia, which led to a critical Triple Zero outage on September 18. At least 10 distinct errors occurred during a routine firewall upgrade, causing a near 14-hour disruption that prevented 605 Australians from reaching emergency services. This failure resulted in two tragic deaths.
The Schott Review, led by Dr Kerry Schott, detailed the extensive technical mistakes that led to the service failure. Of the hundreds who attempted to call Triple Zero across South Australia, Western Australia, the Northern Territory, and parts of NSW, only 150 were successful, marking a 75% failure rate.
In response to the review's findings, the Optus board has accepted all 21 recommendations. The telco's chairman described the review's conclusions as a "sobering read," and workers involved in the failures are reportedly facing potential job losses as the company addresses its systemic issues.
