- Australia’s second largest telecommunications provider is hit by an outage
- Optus says some services will be gradually restored
- According to Optus CEO, there is no evidence of a cyber attack
- Homes and offices across Australia affected
SYDNEY, Nov 8 (Portal) – Millions of Australians were without phone or internet connectivity on Wednesday after an unexplained nationwide outage at the country’s second-largest telecoms provider.
The outage crippled payment systems and online operations and led to morning rush-hour chaos as train networks and ride-hailing services were briefly disrupted in some cities. Some hospitals and emergency services were also affected.
Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin ruled out a cyberattack, but did not give a reason for the outage, which occurred in its eighth hour, in an interview on ABC Radio.
“It’s highly unlikely (that the problem started within the software on Optus networks), our systems are actually very stable… This is very, very rare,” she said.
“We’re working really hard to get it up and running as quickly as possible.”
Optus is the Australian unit of telecommunications company Singapore Telecommunications (STEL.SI) and has more than 10 million customers, about 40% of the Australian population.
Some landline and mobile services are gradually being restored, but it could take a few hours for all services to be restored, Optus later said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Without my phone I can hardly do anything. I’m looking for a bank and if you can’t access your phone and Google, you’re pretty much lost,” said Angela Ican outside the Optus store in Sydney’s CBD
Construction worker Kyle, who did not give his full name, said he wanted answers from Optus.
“I was late for work and couldn’t tell my boss. When I arrived on site I couldn’t find my boss – it was a big day,” he told Portal.
The outage comes after a cyber breach last year exposed personal information of millions of Optus customers, including home addresses, driver’s license and passport numbers.
Parent company Singtel said earlier this year that Optus had made several investments following the cyberattack to improve its capabilities and provide customers with additional protection.
Singtel shares fell 3.2% on the Singapore Stock Exchange after the major outage was reported.
LIMITED INFORMATION
According to media reports, Melbourne’s train networks were forced to shut down for about 30 minutes due to the outage, causing delays during the morning rush.
Hospitals and emergency services across the country were also affected by the outage. Ramsay Health Care (RHC.AX), which owns 70 hospitals and clinics in Australia, said its telephone services were affected. Triple zero (“000”) emergency calls did not work over the Optus landline.
Banking services, including some ATMs using Optus, were also affected. Commonwealth Bank (CBA.AX), the country’s largest lender, said some customers may face difficulties with its services.
Federal Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said she had limited information about the outage.
“What we know is that this is a serious error. He appeared deep in the network. It has far-reaching implications for mobile, landline and broadband services for Optus customers,” Rowland told reporters.
She asked Optus to get involved and provide timely updates.
“Customers are clearly frustrated by this and Optus should respond accordingly,” she said.
Bill Corcoran, Australian Research Council Future Fellow at Monash University, said comments from Optus and the government suggested the problem lay with connectivity and control of infrastructure.
“It would be like an airline shutting down because of ‘IT problems’ – the expensive planes, etc. are all ready to fly, but the organization that runs these things has failed,” Corcoran said.
“Perhaps this incident will prompt us to take a closer look at how we plan to operate this important national infrastructure across multiple private companies,” he said.
Additional reporting by Kirsty Needham in Sydney, written by Praveen Menon; Edited by Stephen Coates
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