November 7, 202 3- A massive nationwide outage hit Optus, Australia's second-largest telecommunications provider, on Wednesday, leaving millions of Australians without phone and internet connections. The outage triggered the collapse of payment systems and online operations, bringing brief disruptions to the train network and ride-sharing services during the morning rush hour, causing chaos.
In an interview with ABC Radio, Optus chief executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin ruled out a hacking attack on the network, but did not disclose the cause of the outage or say how long it would take to restore services. The outage affected 10 million Optus customers, representing 40 percent of Australia's population.
Federal Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said the outage was a deep failure, deeply embedded in the network, with wide-ranging impacts on Optus customers' mobile, fixed and broadband services. Melbourne's train network had to be shut down for about 30 minutes, causing delays during the morning rush hour.
As well as public transport, hospitals and emergency services were also affected by the outage.Ramsay Health Care, which has 70 hospitals and clinics, saw its phone service affected after it was unknown how long the outage would last. Meanwhile, Optus landlines were unable to make emergency triple-zero ("000") calls, sparking further concerns.
The nationwide outage has sparked unease among millions of people, especially those who rely heavily on communications.Optus has said it sincerely apologizes to its customers, but has not been able to provide details at this time. The government and the telco are doing all they can to resolve the issue, but it is unclear when communications services will be fully restored.
In an interview with ABC Radio, Optus chief executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin ruled out a hacking attack on the network, but did not disclose the cause of the outage or say how long it would take to restore services. The outage affected 10 million Optus customers, representing 40 percent of Australia's population.
Federal Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said the outage was a deep failure, deeply embedded in the network, with wide-ranging impacts on Optus customers' mobile, fixed and broadband services. Melbourne's train network had to be shut down for about 30 minutes, causing delays during the morning rush hour.
As well as public transport, hospitals and emergency services were also affected by the outage.Ramsay Health Care, which has 70 hospitals and clinics, saw its phone service affected after it was unknown how long the outage would last. Meanwhile, Optus landlines were unable to make emergency triple-zero ("000") calls, sparking further concerns.
The nationwide outage has sparked unease among millions of people, especially those who rely heavily on communications.Optus has said it sincerely apologizes to its customers, but has not been able to provide details at this time. The government and the telco are doing all they can to resolve the issue, but it is unclear when communications services will be fully restored.
