Australia's leading telecommunications executives are being called to explain serious shortcomings in the country's emergency call system. The Senate inquiry, initially focused on Optus, now includes Telstra and TPG, which operates the Vodafone network. The purpose is to evaluate how mobile networks manage Triple Zero calls during outages. However, this has also highlighted flaws related to older devices and poor industry coordination, affecting more than 100,000 users.
The inquiry began after the Optus incident in mid-September, when a major firewall upgrade blocked over 600 emergency calls. This led to a broader examination of system resilience across all three major networks - Telstra, TPG and Optus. Each of these providers is required to enable fallback support to one another under emergency standards. The investigation has now revealed deeper issues in how these networks handle legacy devices and adjust to the retirement of older technologies, such as 3G.
Since October, Telstra has expressed serious concerns about Samsung phones on its network. Some of these devices cannot switch emergency calls to TPG's Vodafone network, a function called "camping on" that redirects calls in case the original network fails. More than 100,000 Samsung handsets on Telstra's network need software updates to perform this function correctly, with thousands being too outdated to fix. A recent customer death also revealed similar vulnerabilities on TPG's network, linked to the national phase-out of 3G services.
Samsung responded, saying that the technical issues are mainly due to network configuration choices made by telcos during earlier transitions, rather than flaws in the phones themselves. The company is now calling for a national device register that would show which phones can safely reach emergency services. Samsung is also urging telcos to share more data on device performance and network compatibility.
This situation has served as a key warning for Australia's telecommunications sector, especially as there is increasing demand for a clearer, more consistent system to protect public safety. With confidence in emergency services shaken, the inquiry is seen as a critical step to address gaps in outdated technology, regulatory controls and telco accountability.
