Australia will overhaul telecommunications after Optus emergency call failure linked to 4 deaths

MELBOURNE: Australia on Monday foreshadowed changes to the country’s telecommunications industry after a major company’s failure to connect hundreds of emergency calls last week was linked to four deaths.

Optus, Australia’s second-largest telecom company, blamed a “technical failure” on Thursday last week for 624 calls failing to connect to emergency services. While Americans call “9-1-1” in an emergency, Australians call “0-0-0.” Someone died in four of those Australian emergencies.