Overview
- A nationwide Optus network outage on September 18, 2025 lasted about 14 hours and prevented many customers from reaching Triple‑Zero emergency services.
- The Australian Communications and Media Authority has filed civil penalty proceedings in the Federal Court alleging Optus breached two legal duties to provide access to emergency calls and to carry those calls correctly.
- ACMA alleges 1,005 occasions in which emergency calls did not go through during the outage and says each counted breach could carry a maximum fine of A$250,000.
- Company systems were reportedly disrupted by a bungled firewall upgrade that blocked calls across South Australia, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and far west New South Wales.
- Optus is Australia’s second‑largest telco and the case will test regulator powers and could prompt tougher rules or oversight for telco resilience if the court imposes heavy penalties.