SingTel's Optus Sued Over Failed Emergency Service Calls — Update
By Stuart Condie
SYDNEY--Australia's communications regulator is suing Singapore Telecommunications-owned Optus over its failure to provide emergency-call access during a network outage.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority on Thursday said that it had commenced proceedings in the country's Federal Court, alleging that Optus breached its legal obligations on 1,005 occasions during a September 2025 outage.
Users were unable to access emergency services and Optus failed to carry calls to their intended destination, ACMA said.
The rules that Optus allegedly breached are the same as those that it breached in 2023 during a nationwide outage. Optus was fined 12 million Australian dollars, equivalent to US$8.3 million, by ACMA over those breaches.
Optus acknowledged the court action in a statement, and said it was investing in the resilience of its network. In a separate announcement, Singtel said it was talking with potential buyers over the sale of a stake in Optus.
On Thursday, ACMA Chair Nerida O'Loughlin said that the September 2025 outage, which Optus has said was caused by a botched upgrade, left people unable to connect to potentially life-saving services.
"Giving access to the emergency call service is not optional, it is a fundamental legal obligation and the most important public safety responsibility telecommunications providers have," O'Loughlin said.
ACMA said that the maximum penalty available to the court is A$250,000 per breach.
Write to Stuart Condie at stuart.condie@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 29, 2026 22:00 ET (02:00 GMT)
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