Overview

• Police confirmed three fatalities during the multi‑region failure, including a weeks‑old infant, a 68‑year‑old woman, and a 74‑year‑old man.
• The disruption began Thursday evening across South Australia, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory and persisted for roughly 10 to 14 hours.
• Authorities reported at least 600 unsuccessful attempts to reach emergency services during the outage.
• Communications Minister Anika Wells said Optus "left Australians down" at a critical time and highlighted legal obligations to keep emergency calls available.
• CEO Stephen Rue apologized, announced an internal investigation, and pledged full cooperation as the company faces potential penalties, with reports noting prior fines including AU$12 million in 2023 and AU$100 million in June.