Communications Minister Anika Wells orders telco bosses to Canberra after fatal Optus triple-0 outage

Telco giants Optus, Telstra and TPG will be called into the principal’s office following a devastating triple-0 outage that left four dead. Under fire Communications Minister Anika Wells wrote to chief executives, Stephen Rue (Optus), Inaki Berroeta (TPG Telecom) and Vicki Brady (Telstra) ordering them to a meeting in Canberra on Tuesday. With Labor set to rush legislation to beef-up compliance powers for the triple-0 custodian later this week, she said Australians needed to have “trust in the reliability of our triple-0 service when they need it most,” especially ahead of the disaster season which spans from October to April. Her letter placed the impetus on telcos to do more and ensure they were complying with their legal obligations and building trust following two outages in two years. September’s major interruption affected more than 600 Australians in South Australia, parts of rural NSW, Western Australia and the Northern Territory and has been linked to three deaths. “On November 1, new rules mean carriers must share real time network information detailing outages with relevant emergency services organisations and other appropriate entities including the Australian Communications and Media Authority,” the letter read. “I request you meet with me in Canberra on Tuesday 7 October 2025 to update me on the system you have in place already to ensure these legal obligations are met and how you are ensuring outages are avoided so people have faith in the triple-0 system.” Ms Wells, who faced criticisms after she told reporters she was “still a new minister to the industry” when asked whether she was listening more to regulators or telcos, will also face a grilling from the opposition this week when parliament resumes in Canberra. The opposition also seized on her trip to New York in the days following the outage where she accompanied Anthony Albanese to promote Australia’s incoming under-16s social media ban. Coalition communications spokeswoman Melissa McIntosh said Labor had failed to act on the 18 recommendations from a review conducted after the first Optus outage in 2023, and released in March 2024. Then-communications minister Michelle Rowland had accepted all 18 points, which included forcing telcos to provide real-time information during outages, and for telcos to shut down their towers during outages to allow triple-0 calls to be conducted on other networks. Ms McIntosh questioned whether Labor had “done everything in its power” to prevent the September outage from occurring. “There were warning signs in 2023 when Optus had the first outage. No one died. People died this time. As I said, this is life and death.”