An outlet for the Australian communications company Optus in Sydney. Optus chief executive Stephen Rue said an outage that prevented calls to emergency services and led to three deaths was "absolutely tragic" David GRAY

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".

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