Optus service outage at a glance: what we know so far

Hospitals, homes, businesses and transport services hit by Australia-wide internet, mobile and landline network blackout; CEO says efforts to fix services have so far failed

Optus outage live updatesOptus outage: millions across Australia go without mobile or internetWhat’s been hit: from train services to wifi cat feedersGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast

Here’s what we know about the Optus outage so far:

Millions of Australian customers and businesses have been hit by a widespread outage on the Optus network. Affected services include mobile and fixed-line networks, along with internet connections.

According to Downdetector, reports of an outage began at 4am AEDT. A spike of reports flooded through at 5.45am, when 8,180 reports of an outage were received.

Optus provided a statement online about 6.45am, saying it was “aware of an issue impacting Optus mobile and nbn services” and was working to restore services “as quickly as possible”.

The telco’s chief executive, Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, told ABC Radio Sydney at 10.30am that the company had tested a number of “hypotheses” about what might have caused the problem but none fixed the issue.

The federal communications minister, Michelle Rowland, said a protocol was in place to allow Optus customers to “camp” on other mobile networks when needing to call 000. There has also been a marked increase in camping calls on Wednesday.

But Victoria’s health minister, Mary-Anne Thomas, has urged people not to use Optus-linked phones to call triple zero. She said some Optus users have reported they are unable to get through.

Rowland also said information about the cause of the outage was limited but suggested a “deep network problem”. She said there was no information at this stage suggesting a cyber-attack.

Rowland advised small businesses to keep receipts as an “evidentiary base” for recourse and redress.

At 8.30am, Optus wrote on X:

Our teams are working urgently to restore services. We will provide updates as soon as possible. We apologise sincerely to our customers.

The outage caused major service disruptions and delays across the Melbourne train network. It was also affecting phone lines at hospitals across the country.

Rowland and the Coalition’s communications spokesperson, David Coleman, have urged Optus to keep its customers updated.

The telecommunications industry ombudsman has released a statement advising Optus customers: “We can help you with refunds for the time you have been unable to use your service, compensation claims and disputes about your contract.”

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