228 calls to triple-zero fail to go through during Optus outage
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More news: Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin has revealed 228 calls to triple-zero failed to go through during the 12-hour outage on 8 November.
Bayer Rosmarin said it was "too early to tell" where the issue occurred. "The triple zero system is supposed to be able to pick up the traffic when we have an outage like this," she told Friday's Senate hearing.
"We don't manage the triple-zero system, it's a very complex system that involves all the carriers, it involves the device manufacturers."
The Optus chief also revealed the outage was so unusual that there had been no emergency planning for an event of such scale.
Since the outage, Optus has received inquiries from 8500 customers and small businesses with roughly $430,000 of compensation under discussion. The telco has already provided $36,000 across all claims but it is unclear if this was offered in cash or services.
Bayer Rosmarin also dismissed as incorrect reports saying she was considering resigning.
Optus network 'should have coped', CEO says
More news: Optus chief executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin has apologised to customers at a Senate hearing into last week's nationwide network outage.
"It is indisputable that on that day our performance was not acceptable, we let you down and for that I am deeply sorry," Ms Bayer Rosmarin told the Senate committee.
“I understand there has been much commentary about aspects of our response to the outage. And I really welcome the opportunity this morning to answer all your questions as openly as we can and hopefully clarify some misconceptions, as well as be frank about some of our mistakes,” she said.
Bayer Rosmarin said the outage was caused by key Optus routers disconnecting from the network, in response to a change in routing information that resulted from the shift to an alternate peering router during a scheduled upgrade on the Singtel international peering network.
"The reality is that our network should have coped with this change, but on this occasion it did not," she said.
"I can confidently assure the Australian public that we have made immediate changes to our systems to ensure that this specific issue will not cause another outage of this nature we experienced last Wednesday."
Optus to face Senate grilling over network outage
The news: Optus bosses will face a Senate grilling today after last week's network outage that cut phone and internet services to millions of Australians. Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin and Managing Director of Networks Lambo Kanagaratnam will appear before the Environment and Communications References Committee from 9am AEDT.
The numbers: During the 12-hour network event, more than 10 million Australian individuals and businesses were unable to make calls, access the internet or complete transactions.
The context: The company has apologised and customers — including businesses that lost thousands in sales — were offered 200GB of extra data, or free data on weekends if they were on prepaid plans. Friday's committee inquiry has been called by the Greens. The committee's report will focus on communication from Optus to affected customers, the steps the telco took to ensure the event is not repeated, compensation offered to customers, the role of government in ensuring Australians have reliable access to telco technology and steps by the federal government to ensure access to essential services in response to the outage. The committee is due to provide the Senate with a report on the matter by 9 December.
The sources: Parliament of Australia, AAP
