Person dead after failed call

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The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) said in a statement that it was “collecting information to establish the facts of the matter and will investigate to assess non-compliance with the Triple Zero rules, and if any breaches are detected, appropriate sanctions will be applied.”

“Public safety and reliable access to emergency services are of paramount importance. Under the rules introduced in 2024, telecommunications providers must notify their customers where they detect that a customer’s device may not be able to connect to Triple Zero and then take action to block these devices from their networks.”

The tragedy comes just two months after three people died during a major Optus outage in mid-September, when more than 600 calls to Triple Zero emergency services were unable to be connected. The incident, which lasted more than 90 minutes, prompted the federal government to launch an investigation and prompted parliament to quickly introduce new legislation that would strengthen oversight of emergency call services.

The September Optus outage was the telecommunications industry’s second major Triple Zero failure in two years. In November 2023, more than 2000 calls to emergency services were not connected during a 12-hour national network outage, resulting in ACMA being fined $12 million.

The incidents have shaken public confidence in Australia’s emergency services infrastructure and put intense pressure on both telecommunications companies and device manufacturers to provide Triple Zero access.

Watchdog It was announced just last month He said some older Samsung handsets released between 2015 and 2017 were unable to automatically switch to alternative networks to complete Triple Zero calls. Testing revealed that 71 Samsung models were affected, 11 required replacement and 60 required software updates.

The issue is caused by outdated firmware configurations that attempt to route emergency calls over Vodafone’s defunct 3G network. When Telstra and Optus networks are unavailable, these devices cannot successfully switch to TPG’s 4G network as a backup.

Wells warned last month that Samsung phone problems could be “indicative of a wider systemic problem” in Australia’s telecommunications emergency services.

There are tens of thousands of devices across the country that could be affected by this issue. Around 46,000 devices are thought to be affected across Australia’s three major carriers. In preparation for a national shutdown of 3G services last year, TPG identified the affected devices and blocked them from its network, sharing information with Telstra and Optus.

But Telstra engineers recently discovered during testing that the same Samsung devices were still trying to connect Triple Zero calls over Vodafone’s decommissioned 3G infrastructure. “Why this is structured this way is a question for Samsung and Vodafone,” a Telstra spokesman said.

Vodafone owner TPG described the problems as related to “outdated configuration within the devices themselves”. The company has identified additional Samsung devices requiring software updates this year and is blocking devices that have not been upgraded as required by the new regulations.

“When TPG Telecom became aware of these devices on its network, we contacted customers to urgently update the affected devices,” the company said in a statement on Tuesday morning. “Phones that are not updated are blocked 28 to 35 days after the first contact with the customer, in accordance with the new regulation.

“The last communications to customers with affected devices were sent on November 7. These updates are critical to ensuring compactness in emergency services and protecting customer safety.”

Under the rules, which take effect from Nov. 1, telecommunications companies must test whether mobile phones can switch to other networks during Triple Zero outages, report failures in real time and disconnect phone services within 28 to 35 days of notifying customers that their devices cannot connect to emergency services.

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Last month parliament also passed a law creating a new Triple Zero Officer with compliance powers to ensure emergency services remain available. The custodian can impose a maximum fine of $30 million for violations of the Triple Zero rules; This is a tenfold increase over previous penalties.

The government also ordered telecommunications companies to create separate public records for Triple Zero outages; however, operators expressed concerns about the technical and cost challenges of real-time reporting. TPG warned that implementing real-time reporting for unplanned outages would “require significant system changes and costs across our operations.”

Opposition communications spokeswoman Melissa McIntosh described Samsung phone problems as a “potentially major problem” and said Samsung should be called to testify in the ongoing Senate inquiry into Optus’ Triple Zero failures. He criticized the government’s proposal to allow telecommunications companies to operate their own outage databases as “secrecy disguised as accountability”.

Samsung said it was working with carriers “to ensure that all devices operate reliably in any emergency situation” and advised customers to contact their carrier or Samsung support on 1300 362 603 if their device is affected.

Both Telstra and Optus began contacting users of affected Samsung models last month to let them know they needed to upgrade their phone’s software or buy new devices.

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