Singtel says sorry for Optus outage linked to 3 deaths in Australia

Singtel has apologised after an outage affecting its subsidiary Optus resulted in three deaths in Australia.

- Agil Hamzah

In a statement published on the Singapore Exchange on Sept 24, Singtel group chief executive Yuen Kuan Moon said the telecommunications operator is working with the Optus board and management to thoroughly investigate the incident and “prevent any future recurrence”.

He said Singtel Group is “deeply sorry” to hear about the incident, which occurred during a network upgrade on Sept 18, and caused a disruption to emergency call services.

“Our hearts go out to the families and friends of those who have passed away, and we know that Optus will get to the bottom of this matter,’ said Mr Yuen.

The network outage potentially impacted 600 customers in the states of South Australia and Western Australia, as well as the Northern Territory.

Optus CEO Stephen Rue said at a press conference on Sept 19 that three people were found dead after welfare checks were carried out on households that had attempted to make emergency calls through the 000 hotline.

The number is used for calling the police, fire department, or for an ambulance.