Optus, one of Australia’s largest telecommunications providers, is facing intense scrutiny following revelations of its mishandling of a severe outage on 18 September, which has been linked to four deaths, including that of an eight-week-old baby. During a parliamentary hearing, it was disclosed that Optus sent emails about the outage to an incorrect email address at the Department of Communications, where they remained unread for over a day. The emails significantly downplayed the severity of the incident, claiming only 10 emergency calls were affected, while in reality, more than 600 calls failed over 13 hours. Authorities were only informed of the outage more than 36 hours after it began, via the industry regulator. Australia’s Deputy Secretary for Communications, James Chisholm, criticized Optus for not adhering to protocols, including redirecting triple-0 calls to other providers during outages. The outage occurred during a routine firewall upgrade, deviating from standard procedures. Singapore’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, currently on an official visit to Australia, expressed condolences and emphasized the need for accountability. Optus, owned by Singapore’s Singtel, is under investigation by Australia’s media regulator for potential legal breaches. This incident adds to Optus’ troubled history, including a 2022 cyberattack and a 2023 nationwide outage. Calls for the resignation of current CEO Stephen Rue and the revocation of Optus’ operating license are growing among lawmakers.