When a telecommunication network as large as Optus’s goes down, it can have wide ramifications for services and the economy broadly. It’s not just about mobile phones any more.
Optus on Wednesday said a network fault had resulted in its mobile and fixed-line phone and internet services to be taken down, affecting tens of millions of services across Australia.
While the outage has left customers unable to make calls or access the internet, it has also resulted in the trains in Victoria temporarily shutting down due to what Guardian Australia understands was a signalling system that relied on the Optus network.
It has left hospitals unable to be contacted, as well as call centres and payment services that rely on mobile or internet coverage to process sales.
Most people will first notice the problem when their phone can’t make a call or can’t access a webpage. A caller to ABC in Sydney said she had been alerted to the outage because her wifi-connected automated cat feeder didn’t work and her pet woke her up.
The outage also appears to be hitting services that rely on text message-based two-factor authentication for security of logins. This has affected the workdays of many, with the Miles Franklin award-winning novelist Jennifer Down posting to X: “Can’t authenticate my work logins … because of the Optus outage, so I’m just sitting around.”
People have been spotted grouping around cafes and libraries, making use of free wifi.
It would appear I’m not the only one relying on free wifi at the library thanks to the Optus outage… pic.twitter.com/f1b2GqY3ux
— Andrew Macfarlane (@andrewmacfnz) November 7, 2023
Nine newspapers, the publisher of the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age, told customers that newspaper deliveries had been disrupted.
Evie Networks, which manages electric car charging stations across Australia, said some sites were temporarily unavailable.
“We understand this may affect your experience, and we’re working diligently to resolve the issue,” it said on Facebook. “Thank you for your patience, and we appreciate your understanding during this unexpected outage.”
Coles Mobile was also down. “We’re currently experiencing nationwide outage which may impact your ability to connect to our services,” it posted on its website.
In Melbourne, phone lines into Northern Health and Austin Health campuses were affected.
And Australian Capital Territory government phone lines were hit, for incoming and outgoing calls. “The outage is affecting a range of our services, including Access Canberra Contact Centres and health service phone lines,” authorities said on X.
It was also a risky morning to run into a snake in Melbourne. Stewy the Snake Catcher posted on Facebook that he is with Optus. “We apologise in advance if you try to get through to us this morning and are having trouble. Hopefully they rectify the issue asap.”
The federal minister for communications, Michelle Rowland, told ABC Radio National that the prolonged outage “would indicate potentially a deep network problem and one that is significant”.
“I do know, having reached out to Optus and sought some advice, is that limited information [is available] at this stage but Optus is trying to get to the bottom of it.
“I think it’s been a very anxious morning for many Australians so far.”
The Coalition’s communications spokesperson, David Coleman, urged Optus to update its customers “quickly and effectively”. “The Optus outage is impacting millions of Australians and businesses,” he wrote on X.
Optus is aware of these risks. Its parent company Singtel’s latest annual report said the telecommunication industry faced the “constant challenge of providing fast, secure and reliable networks in an increasingly digital and connected world”.
“We continue to make our networks more robust and resilient, and continually review our processes and network infrastructure to prevent any network disruptions,” the report said. “We have implemented key network infrastructure diversity and redundancy measures to prevent any downtime.”
Optus said it had “an effective communications process for timely updates to our stakeholders and customers during any incident or crisis”.
“There is a defined crisis management plan with a clear escalation process to management in the event of emergencies and catastrophic events.”
