Network outages with catastrophic consequences

In recent weeks the Optus network has suffered a series embarrassing and damaging outages that have affected triple zero calls and brought about any number of headaches and groans of frustration. Unfortunately for customers and shareholders this is part of an all but familiar trend that has seen the company’s growth plateau and headaches become part-and-parcel of the Optus experience.

This commentary by Henry Roberts.

In the face of such outages, inefficiencies and general customer disillusionment stands the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). The ACMA is charged, amongst other tasks, with the duty of enforcing legislation that falls under the umbrella of communications and media. Legislation huddled under this umbrella includes the Spam Act 2003, Broadcasting Services Act 1992, and for our purposes, the Telecommunications Act 1997.

To enforce legislation, the ACMA is given an arsenal made up of guidance, formal warnings, infringement notices, instigating civil and criminal court proceedings, and in exceptional circumstances, licence cancellations. It’s an impressive, and rightly, powerful selection of tools.

In a world increasingly lived through a phone, and concomitantly a mobile data connection, Australian business’, families and emergency services depend on the services provided by telcos. By extension then, they rely on the ACMA to ensure the telcos meet their legal obligations and customer expectations.

With a history of underperformance and misbehaviour as impressive as Optus’, the telco and ACMA have had a number or run ins. Last year, Optus had to pay $12 million for an outage that affected triple zero calls. In 2022, Optus was made to issue more than $4.4 million in refunds following failures to inform more than 34,000 customers that they were being provided with internet services below what they paid for. In 2023, an ACMA found Optus liable for breaching consumer protection rules.

What is apparent from the above, and Optus’ repeat offending, is that the ACMA is ineffective. Enforcement of the law is done to change behaviour and prevent mistakes from being reproduced. It is clear, not only in how mistakes have been repeated, but in how Optus operates that the enforcement of the law by ACMA has failed. This failure has been to the detriment of those that rely on the body to protect them.

This cycle of failure, meagre enforcement and repeat offending can only be broken by giving the ACMA the confidence to take greater, more impactful action. This might start with larger fines, and deeper investigations designed to discourage potential and current customers from the services of perennial underperformers and front-page occupants.