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Optus outage cuts off millions, emergency calls
Paul Smith and
Jenny Wiggins
Updated Nov 8, 2023 – 11.55am,first published at 7.25am
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Optus is scrambling to identify and fix the cause of a massive outage to phone and internet services that is preventing people with fixed lines dialling 000 in an emergency.
The country’s second-largest telecommunications provider, which is owned by Singaporean group Singtel, did not believe the outage was due to a cyberattack and its systems were “very stable”, Optus chief executive officer Kelly Bayer Rosmarin
told ABC Radio on Wednesday morning.
“This is a very, very rare occurrence and when I have more information about the root cause I will be the first to let all our customers know,” Ms Rosmarin said.
Customers at the Westfield Penrith Optus store during the outage. Wolter Peeters
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland urged Optus to be “transparent and timely” in updates to customers, adding the company appeared to have suffered from a fault “deep in the core” of its network.
Optus had yet to provide “a precise timeframe” on when the faults would be fixed, the minister said. It was too early discuss compensation for businesses impacted by the outage, but they should keep receipts of additional expenses, she said.
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“The most important thing here is consumers, and consumers are hungry for information,” she said. “The government stands ready to provide any assistance that is necessary.”
This included keeping consumers updated on their rights under existing regulations, the minister explained. “Consumers will be making judgements about the quality of service that they receive in a competitive market...It is important that people have their services restored as soon as possible.”
Opposition communications spokesman David Coleman described the Optus outage as “catastrophic.”
“We’re seeing crucial public services not able to be contacted by phone,” Mr Coleman said. “Hospitals, other very important parts of our community, that are out of touch because of this outage...Optus needs to do everything it can to get this resolved.”
The outage is believed to have started at around 4am on Wednesday.
A statement posted on Optus’ Facebook page at 6.47am disclosing the outage had not been updated by 11.30am (AEDT) and did not allow comments to be posted from Optus customers.
A statement on the company’s website said: “There is an issue impacting Optus mobile, fixed internet and phone services and we are working to restore services as quickly as possible.”