Melbourne Woman Unable to Call 000 Highlights Telecom System Gaps

A woman in Victoria awoke at early morning to find two men in her Melbourne townhouse corridor, suspected of burglary. When she tried to call the emergency number 000 (Triple‑0) for help, the call failed, and the system responded “unable to complete call,” preventing her from contacting police immediately.

In recent months, at least five Optus network users have reported being unable to call 000 in emergencies. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) and the Department of Communications have launched investigations and requested telecom providers establish better public outage registration systems to track and respond to similar failures quickly.

Experts noted that emergency call failures can result from multiple factors, including overloaded mobile networks, temporary base station outages, or insufficient coverage in certain areas. The current system’s heavy reliance on a single network leaves users with no alternative means to contact emergency services during outages. Recommendations include introducing SMS or data message reporting features, strengthening network redundancy, and enhancing real-time oversight of telecom providers’ compliance.