The Australian government said Saturday that telco firm Optus "let Australians down" after three people died during a network outage that prevented calls to emergency services.

The outage impacted 600 people across South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory shortly after midnight on Thursday evening for 13 hours.

Authorities said they were not informed of the incident or deaths until late Friday.

Communications Minister Anika Wells said Saturday the telco company had "let Australians down when they needed them the most and this isn't good enough".

"Optus and all telecommunications providers have obligations under Australian law to ensure that they enable emergency services' calls."

Wells added it was "not good enough" that Optus did not appear to know enough about w

See Full Page