Three people died after an Optus network upgrade prevented triple zero calls in three states and territories on Thursday, the telco’s chief executive officer has confirmed.

Two of the deceased were in South Australia and one was in Western Australia , Stephen Rue said, but added that welfare checks after the upgrade were “ongoing”.

“The upgrade impact … resulted in the failure of a number of triple zero calls in South Australia, Northern Territory and Western Australia,” Rue said in a press conference on Friday afternoon.

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“I have been advised that during the process of conducting welfare checks, three of the triple zero calls involved households where a person tragically passed away.”

The CEO said about 600 customers were affected by the network upg

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