Despite the possibility of national roaming, end users have been advised to try landlines or Wi-Fi calling to reach the emergency services if mobile networks go down
A new information campaign advises the public as to how to reach the emergency services in the event of a network outage
On 24 August 2026, mobile operators in Australia – Optus, Telstra and TPG Telecom – launched a public information campaign regarding access to Triple Zero (i.e. emergency services), alongside the Australian Telecommunications Alliance (ATA) and the Triple Zero Custodian. In March 2025, the Government created the role of Triple Zero Custodian to ensure that the system is operating effectively, in response to a review of a major Optus outage that occurred in November 2023 and lasted for around 12 hours. The information campaign will inform the public on how they can contact Triple Zero in the event of an outage, for example via other available mobile networks. Operators, the ATA and the Triple Zero Custodian will soon begin sharing advice via direct emails to consumers, on social media platforms, on company and government websites, and through customer service staff. Luke Coleman (CEO, ATA) stated that the priority is to “ensure Australians are equipped with simple advice they can recall and use in a worst-case scenario”.
End users’ phones would be able to temporarily connect to any other available mobile network in order to reach Triple Zero
The campaign will advise citizens on how to contact Triple Zero if there is an outage, primarily through “emergency camp-on”. Since October 2024, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has required that operators provide this feature, which allows devices to connect to other available mobile networks temporarily to call emergency services. This process happens automatically at no extra cost to the end user, even if there is no active SIM card in their phone. If the initial call does not connect, end users are advised to hang up within five seconds and try to call again immediately, staying on the line for up to 60 seconds on subsequent attempts for the best chance of connection. If no other network is available, the campaign recommends that the public either:
Use a landline phone or phone box; or
Try to connect to Wi-Fi and use Wi-Fi calling on their device.
The initiative follows a series of network outages over the past few years, for which operators may face financial penalties
Over the past few years, Australia has experienced a number of severe network outages, most notably on 18 September 2025 when Optus’ network went down throughout western, southern and northern parts of the country for nearly 14 hours. As a result, around 600 calls to emergency services failed to go through, ultimately being linked to four deaths. On 30 July 2026, ACMA announced that it had begun court proceedings against Optus, alleging that it breached two separate legal obligations on 1,005 occasions by failing to give end users access to emergency call services and ensuring that those emergency calls were carried to the relevant termination point. ACMA is seeking an order for Optus to pay financial penalties, with the maximum penalty available being A$250,000 (£130,000) per contravention. Similarly, in July 2026, Telstra experienced a network outage, during which 604 calls failed to connect to Triple Zero. In response, Adam Suckling (Deputy Chair, ACMA) stated that Telstra had “let the country down” and that the operator could face civil penalties of up to A$30m (£16m).
