Call for Ombudsman to help small business in Optus aftermath

The NSW Small Business Commissioner has written to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman to outline the concerns for small businesses in the aftermath of the Optus network outage and requested information to support them.

Commissioner Chris Lamont was critical of Optus for its poor communication with small businesses about the service failure.

“It was extremely disappointing and frustrating for small businesses across NSW that Optus provided little to no information on the reasons for the outage or when customers might expect to see services and connectivity reinstated. Information that was available on the morning of 8 November 2023 was provided primarily by third parties and/or the media and much of it was inaccurate or contradictory,” Mr Lamont said.

The Commissioner has advocated for small businesses on three key issues identified during the 8 November outage. They include:

• Refunds for service outages – Media reports have suggested that Optus may not be planning to offer refunds for the services they failed to provide during the outage. The Commission maintains Optus network users should be automatically reimbursed for the period in which their service was disrupted 
• Compensation for consequential losses – According to the Australian Consumer Law, small businesses may have the right to seek damages for losses resulting from a failure to meet consumer guarantees. Many small businesses suffered substantial financial losses due to the outage, as they were unable to operate at their usual capacity or at all  
• Timeliness and quality of information – The lack of timely information during the outage caused significant distress to small businesses and hindered their ability to mitigate the impacts. Optus has an ongoing responsibility to communicate effectively with its customers regarding its response to the outage

“Many small businesses suffered substantial financial losses due to the outage, as they were unable to operate at their usual capacity or at all. In my view, it is reasonable to expect network providers to work with their customers to address these costs,” Mr Lamont said.