EMERGENCY COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS – AUSTRALIA

Telcos accused of Triple-Zero death cover-up

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Original article by Jenny Wiggins, Nicola Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 10-Dec-25

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has accused the nation’s telecommunications companies of a "cover-up" during the second hearing of an inquiry into Optus’s triple-zero outage, which has been linked to several deaths. She was responding to the revelation that a person had died after an outdated Samsung mobile phone was used to call triple-zero; the device defaulted to Vodafone’s decommissioned 3G network. This incident had been reported six days after the Optus outage on 24 September, but it was not publicly disclosed. Communications Minister Anika Wells was also criticised over her handling of the Optus outage; she had been in New York at the time, promoting the government’s social media age restrictions.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN GREENS, SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD, VODAFONE AUSTRALIA LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT, REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT, COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS

Optus’ $1.5b in federal contracts in doubt

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Original article by Jenny Wiggins, Nicola Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 6-Nov-25

Optus is under renewed scrutiny after a mobile network outage in the Hunter Valley region on Wednesday, which prompted the telco to warn that triple-zero services in 18 postcode areas could be affected. It was Optus’s third network outage in two months, and came just days after a parliamentary committee began an inquiry into the triple-zero outage in September that has been linked to several deaths. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Communications Minister Anika Wells has indicated that Optus’s contracts with federal government agencies are likely to be reviewed. The telco’s current contracts with the Australian Tax Office and the Department of Home Affairs expire in December 2026.

CORPORATES
SINGTEL OPTUS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT, REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT, COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS, AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HOME AFFAIRS

Telstra delays 3G shutdown over triple zero calls

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Original article by Savannah Meacham
The New Daily – Page: Online : 7-May-24

Telstra has delayed the shutdown of its 3G network until 31 August, in order to give customers people more time to upgrade their devices to enable them to make triple zero emergency calls. Currently around 400,000 devices are 4G enabled, but they still depend on the 3G network to make emergency calls. Federal Communications Minister Michelle Rowland has warned that some people may think their device is operating normally after August, but they will find it will not work when they try to make an emergency call if they have not upgraded it.

CORPORATES
TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT, REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT, COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS

Telstra delays 3G shutdown over triple zero calls

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Original article by Savannah Meacham
The New Daily – Page: Online : 7-May-24

Telstra has delayed the shutdown of its 3G network until 31 August, in order to give customers people more time to upgrade their devices to enable them to make triple zero emergency calls. Currently around 400,000 devices are 4G enabled, but they still depend on the 3G network to make emergency calls. Federal Communications Minister Michelle Rowland has warned that some people may think their device is operating normally after August, but they will find it will not work when they try to make an emergency call if they have not upgraded it.

CORPORATES
TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT, REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT, COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS

Telco, NBN failures during bushfire crisis reveal cracks in regional, rural crisis coverage

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Original article by Jess Davis
The New Daily – Page: Online : 14-Jan-20

Some areas of rural and regional Australia that were impacted during the bushfire crisis lost their mobile and NBN access. Telecommunications analyst Paul Budde says the fires should serve as a ‘wake-up call’ to the government, and that a national emergency telecommunications plan is required. Budde says telecommunications infrastructure needs to be buried underground, and that the old copper network should remain in place. Federal Communications Minister Paul Fletcher notes that no communications system can completely withstand bushfires.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND THE ARTS