Australia's emergency call system failed to kill many people, the prime minister said.
Australia's second-largest telecommunications operator Optous recently disrupted the emergency call system due to a network upgrade failure, killing three people.
According to a report by Australia News Channel 9 on the 22nd, in the early morning of the 18th local time, more than 600 emergency calls in South Australia, Western Australia, Northern Territory and New South Wales were affected. The accident resulted in the deaths of two men and one woman. The death of a baby boy was initially thought to be linked to an emergency call system outage, but a preliminary police investigation ruled it out.
Since ordinary calls were not affected, Optous was unconscious within 13 hours after the accident. The day after the accident, the company's CEO Stephen Ru issued a statement of apology and acknowledged that the situation was "completely unacceptable."
According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), the head of the Australian Communications and Media Authority, Nerida O'Connell, said: "Optus has deceived the Australian people in this matter, and they will pay a huge price for it."
The last interruption in the communications service was in 2023, when OPTUS was fined $12 million (about RMB 56,28 million). for the incident, the Australian opposition called for an independent investigation, calling it "a complete catastrophe."
According to ABC, the incident once again sparked controversy over whether telecommunications business should be in the hands of private companies. An Australian telecommunications industry official stressed: “000 (Australian Emergency Call Number) is not a ‘product’, it is a key life line. Every service disruption process is the same: private companies cut costs, governments hesitate, people’s lives are at risk. We can’t always react after things happen.”
Australian Prime Minister Albany was asked on Monday whether Steven Ru should refuse to respond explicitly to his resignation as a result of the incident, but said he "will find out the facts and know exactly how it all happened."
The World Times Australian journalist.