On a seemingly ordinary Wednesday morning, millions of Optus customers in Australia woke up to a telecommunications nightmare. The nationwide Optus internet outage, which began at 4:05 am, left customers unable to make calls, access mobile data, or use their landlines. The blackout, lasting for over nine hours, had widespread consequences, affecting businesses, hospitals, and even emergency services. In this article, we will explore the key questions surrounding the Optus outage, including its duration, restoration efforts, the cause of the disruption, and its impact on customers.
Optus users first reported outages at 4:05 am, and the blackout persisted for several hours. During this period, customers across mobile, landline, and broadband networks were affected, and some even reported seeing “SOS” on their mobile phones, indicating a lack of regular network access. According to Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, the company has been progressively working to restore the network since the disruption began. While some customers reported their service returning, the complete restoration of all services is expected to take “hours.”
As of now, Optus has not confirmed the exact cause of the nationwide outage. However, technology expert Trevor Long speculated that a routing issue could have been the culprit. It is suggested that a failure or change at a critical network point escalated the traffic and led to the network’s collapse. The Optus website acknowledges the existence of a network fault and indicates that engineers are investigating the issue. Communications Minister Michelle Rowland described the incident as a “deep fault” in the core network, affecting routing and essential functions of the network.
The Optus outage had a significant impact, affecting close to 10 million customers, thousands of businesses, and various government services. Technology expert Trevor Long called it “the biggest telco outage in Australian history” because it affected both mobile and landline services. This meant that customers with phone, broadband, and mobile services from Optus had no means of communication during the disruption, causing extensive inconvenience and disruption to daily life.
While Optus mobile users can still reach Triple Zero (000) by connecting to other networks, landline customers on the Optus network were unable to make emergency calls during the outage. This lack of access to emergency services posed a significant concern for the affected customers and further emphasized the severity of the situation.
According to the Department of Home Affairs, there isn’t any proof that a cybersecurity assault caused the disruption. Although it was not ruled out, the probability of a cyberhack was also not verified. The specific reason of the disturbance was not disclosed to customers; instead, the focus was on restoring services and limiting its effects.
Network outages are not uncommon in the telecommunications industry. In May 2023, Telstra experienced an hours-long outage that disrupted calls for its customers. Similarly, Vodafone experienced an hours-long 4G delay in April 2021. These incidents underscore the technical challenges faced by telecom providers and their ongoing efforts to maintain network reliability.
Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin expressed her commitment to restoring services and ensuring such incidents are extremely rare. As the investigation into the outage continues, it serves as a reminder of the importance of a robust telecommunications infrastructure and the need for continuous improvement in network reliability and communication with customers.
