Victoria Police conducted welfare checks on Friday after 39 Triple Zero calls failed to connect due to an Optus outage, which also affected Tasmania and other states. According to Optus, the outage occurred at approximately 1:30pm AEST and was restored as quickly as possible with technical teams mobilized. The incident comes amid a lawsuit filed by Australia's communications regulator against Optus over last year's Triple Zero outage, which blocked emergency calls for about 13 hours. Optus customers in Victoria, South Australia, the Northern Territory, and Tasmania were affected by the outage, losing service or unable to make/receive calls.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-11,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
On Friday, an outage occurred with Optus, affecting emergency services and causing problems for people trying to call Triple Zero (000). The outage lasted for several hours, during which time there were 39 calls from the Victorian region of Australia that struggled to connect. Because of this, Victoria Police conducted welfare checks on the individuals who had made those calls to ensure they didn't need immediate help. Optus became aware of the issue at 1:30pm AEST, and their technical teams worked to resolve it as quickly as possible. The outage was not limited to Victoria, as the Tasmanian Department of Police reported that three Triple Zero calls in Tasmania were also affected.
Written for “Optus Network Outage Causes Chaos” on 2026-09-12,
grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
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No political leaning scored for article 7859 · logged 2026-09-11
Thirty-nine Triple Zero calls struggled to connect to the Telstra national emergency line because of an Optus outage on Friday, Triple Zero Victoria says.
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Victoria → struggle → Friday
Victoria Police said it was completing welfare checks on impacted callers following the outage on Friday afternoon.
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it → say → afternoon
“Just before 7pm, Optus has provided details of 39 calls that experienced difficulty connecting to the Telstra national Triple Zero (000) Emergency Call Person,” Triple Zero Victoria chief operations officer Paul Santamaria said.
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Santamaria → provide → Person
Earlier on Friday, Optus confirmed it became aware of an outage at “approximately 1.30pm AEST and immediately mobilised technical teams and restored services as quickly as possible”.
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it → confirm → services
The Tasmanian Department of Police, Fire and Emergency Management said Optus had advised it of an outage which affected three Triple Zero calls in Tasmania.
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which → say → Tasmania
“Police subsequently contacted the callers, and it was determined they did not require immediate police or emergency services,” the department said.
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department → contact → services
Some Optus customers had taken to social media earlier in the day, stating they had lost service or were unable to make or receive calls.
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they → take → calls
Optus sent a text message to customers saying that in Victoria, South Australia, the Northern Territory and Tasmania “Optus has loss of coverage due to this outage”.
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Optus → send → outage
“Emergency service calls can be accessed where other mobile provider coverage is available or are able to call via Wi-Fi.”
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coverage → access → Fi
In July, Australia’s communications regulator sued Optus over last year’s Triple Zero outage, alleging the telco failed to connect emergency calls on 1005 occasions and exposing it to penalties of more than $500 million.
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telco → sue → million
The Australian Communications and Media Authority filed civil penalty proceedings in the Federal Court against Optus Mobile over the September 18 outage, when a bungled firewall upgrade blocked calls to Triple Zero across South Australia, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Far West NSW for about 13 hours.
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upgrade → file → hours
The outage was linked to two deaths.
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outage → link → deaths
Be the first to know when major news happens.
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news → know → ?
