Optus taken to Federal Court by ACMA over deadly triple-0 outage in September, 2025

Australia’s telecommunications regulator has announced it is taking legal action against Optus over its fatal triple-0 outage.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) announced on Thursday morning that Federal Court proceedings had been initiated against the company.

ACMA President Nerida O’Loughlin said access to emergency call services was “essential to protect the Australian public”.

“Australians rightly hope that when they call triple-0 their call will connect,” he said.

“The circumstances of this outage meant that this did not occur reliably, leaving people unable to connect to potentially life-saving services.”

The legal action follows a 14-hour outage for Optus customers that began in the early morning hours of September 18, leaving some customers unable to reach emergency services.

ACMA will allege that Optus breached two separate legal obligations by failing to access the triple-0 system and ensuring emergency calls were transmitted 1005 times.

More to come…