ACMA sues Optus over Triple Zero outage
Analysis based on 7 articles · First reported Jul 30, 2026 · Last updated Jul 30, 2026
The legal action increases regulatory and reputational risk for UnitedHealth Group — Optum, potentially leading to significant financial penalties and further scrutiny. The recurrence of such outages may erode customer trust and affect UnitedHealth Group — Optum's market position relative to competitors like Telstra.
The Australia — Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has launched Federal Court proceedings against UnitedHealth Group — Optum Mobile over a major network outage on September 18, 2025, that severely impacted access to the Triple Zero emergency call service. The ACMA alleges UnitedHealth Group — Optum breached two legal obligations on 1,005 occasions, failing to provide access to emergency calls and failing to ensure calls were carried appropriately. The outage lasted nearly 14 hours, affecting 600 calls with 455 failing to connect. Two deaths were reportedly linked to the outage: a 68-year-old woman in South Australia and a man from Western Australia. An independent review by Kerry Schott found at least 10 mistakes by UnitedHealth Group — Optum and its contractor Nokia during a network upgrade. The ACMA previously fined UnitedHealth Group — Optum over $12 million for a similar outage in November 2023. UnitedHealth Group — Optum acknowledges the proceedings but says it is inappropriate to comment further, stating its focus remains on building a stronger company and implementing the Schott report recommendations.
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