(Reuters) -Optus, Australia’s no. 2 telecom carrier, said on Wednesday it appointed Kerry Schott to lead an independent review into last week’s technical failure that disrupted Triple Zero emergency calls and has been linked to four deaths. Optus last week said a deviation from standard procedures during a network firewall upgrade triggered a 13-hour outage […]
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Australia’s Optus appoints Kerry Schott to lead independent review into Triple Zero outage
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(Reuters) -Optus, Australia’s no. 2 telecom carrier, said on Wednesday it appointed Kerry Schott to lead an independent review into last week’s technical failure that disrupted Triple Zero emergency calls and has been linked to four deaths.
Optus last week said a deviation from standard procedures during a network firewall upgrade triggered a 13-hour outage that disrupted emergency call services, an incident linked to four deaths and that potentially affected around 600 customers.
“The review will identify the causes, and canvass the applicable processes, protocols and operations, of the incident on September 18,” Optus said in a statement.
Kerry Schott currently serves as a non-executive director of AGL Energy and chair of both the Carbon Market Institute and the Competition Review Panel for the Australian Government.
The independent review is expected to be completed by year-end, with findings to be reported to the Optus board and made public thereafter.
Optus owner Singapore Telecommunications’ CEO Yuen Kuan Moon said in a separate statement that they would continue to support the Optus board and management as they work through the incident.
(Reporting by Roshan Thomas in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)