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Wells Summons Telco Chiefs to Canberra Over Triple Zero Failures

The minister is fast-tracking laws for an independent Triple Zero guardian with real-time outage reporting from 1 November.

Overview

  • Optus, Telstra and TPG CEOs have been ordered to meet in Canberra on Tuesday 7 October to provide assurances on safeguarding emergency calls ahead of the bushfire season.
  • From 1 November, carriers must supply real-time outage information to emergency services, the ACMA and the government under new compliance rules.
  • An Optus firewall upgrade on 18 September blocked Triple Zero calls across SA, WA, the NT and parts of NSW, with roughly 600 calls failing and three deaths linked to the outage.
  • The ACMA has opened a compliance investigation, while Optus has appointed Kerry Schott to lead an independent technical review of the failures.
  • The government plans to introduce legislation this week to establish a Triple Zero guardian as the opposition presses for an independent inquiry and criticises the pace of reforms.