Millions of people lost access to the internet and phone service on Wednesday due to an unplanned nationwide outage caused by Optus Network, the second-largest telecom provider in Australia.
During morning rush hour, the disruption disrupted train networks, ride-sharing services, the internet, and financial systems. Several hospitals and emergency services were affected.
Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, CEO of Optus, told ABC Radio that a hack was unlikely but did not explain the eight-hour disruption.
“This is a really unusual event,” she remarked. “The likelihood that the issue originated in Optus network software is very low, as our systems exhibit exceptional stability.”
“We are working really hard to get it up and running as soon as we possibly can.”
Optus, the Australian business of Singapore Telecommunications (STEL.SI), has over 10 million customers, or 40% of Australia’s population.
Optus stated on X, formerly Twitter, that all services may take a few hours to recover, even if some fixed and mobile services are gradually restored.
Angela Ican stated outside the Optus store in Sydney’s CBD, “I pretty much can’t do anything without my phone.” I need a bank, and you’re lost without a phone to search Google.”
Construction worker Kyle, who requested anonymity, wanted an answer from Optus.
I couldn’t tell my supervisor. I’d be late. I couldn’t find my supervisor when I arrived after a busy day.
After a cyberattack last year exposed millions of Optus customers’ home addresses, passport numbers, and driver’s licence details, the interruption occurred.
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Earlier this year, Singtel reported that Optus had invested heavily to improve its capabilities and client security after the event.
News of the huge outage dropped Singtel’s Singapore exchange shares by 3.2%.
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Media reports said the interruption caused a 30-minute train stoppage in Melbourne, delaying morning rush hour.
The disruption affected hospitals and emergency services nationwide. Australian hospital and clinic operator Ramsay Health Care (RHC.AX) reported phone service interruptions. Emergency triple zero (“000”) calls from Optus landlines failed.
Other Optus financial services and ATMs were affected. Commonwealth Bank (CBA.AX), the nation’s largest lender, warned clients that some may have trouble using its services.
Michelle Rowland, the federal communications minister, said she knew little about the outage.
We recognise the gravity of this issue. It happened further down the network. Optus customers’ fixed, mobile, and broadband services are affected, “Rowland informed reporters.
Optus must lead and deliver timely information, she said.
“Customers are clearly frustrated about it, and Optus should respond to that accordingly,” she stated.
Bill Corcoran, an Australian Research Council Future Fellow at Monash University, thinks Optus and the government’s networking and infrastructure control comments summarise the situation.
“This would be something like when you get an airline shutdown due to ‘IT issues’—the expensive planes and so on are all ready to go, but the organisation behind running those things has failed,” added Corcoran.
“Maybe this incident will cause us to have a closer look at how we want to run this critical national infrastructure across multiple private companies,” she said.
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