Breaking: Optus sued in Federal Court over network outage

ACMA to sue Optus in Federal Court over 2025 network outage By national consumer affairs reporter Michael Atkin Posted Thu 30 Jul 2026 at 10:40am , updatedThu 30 Jul 2026 at 10:43am The nation's second largest telco, Optus, is being sued in the Federal Court over last year's major network outage in which hundreds of calls failed to reach Triple Zero. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) alleges Optus breached two legal obligations more than 1,000 times. These included making sure customers who made emergency calls had access to the emergency call service and to ensure those calls were carried appropriately. The massive outage, which occurred last September, went for almost 14 hours and was linked to two deaths. The maximum penalty available to the court is $250,000 per contravention. Optus has been contacted for comment. Loading