Communications Minister Michelle Rowland is calling for transparency from Optus as she confirms that a nationwide outage was a result of a fault within the provider’s core network. Over 10 million customers and 400,000 businesses were affected when Optus’ mobile services went offline at 4 am AEDT on Wednesday. The outage caused disruptions in Melbourne’s suburban train network and had ramifications for hospitals, medical practitioners, and phone lines across the country.
During a press conference, Ms. Rowland stated that the outage had not yet been resolved and expressed the frustrations of customers with the national telecommunications provider. She emphasized the importance of Optus keeping customers informed in a timely manner, although the company has not provided a specific timeframe for the resolution.
Ms. Rowland also urged Optus to improve communication with the public, as the outage began in the early hours of the morning and the situation had persisted until 11 o’clock.
When a mobile device connects to a telecommunications provider like Optus, it links to the provider’s “core network,” which is considered the central control system of the service. Core networks typically consist of specialized hardware located in data centers.
While Optus has not disclosed the root cause of the outage, experts suggest that it may have resulted from a software upgrade failure, as most updates occur between 2 am and 4 am.
Ms. Rowland mentioned that government agencies, including Medicare, were being monitored for the impact of the outage. She emphasized that the government would do everything within its power to assist Optus.
Ms. Rowland highlighted the essential role of telecommunications in everyday life and the importance of providing timely information to consumers who rely on these services.
Optus Chief Kelly Bayer Rosmarin assured the public that the outage was a rare occurrence, and there were no signs of a cyber attack. She emphasized that Optus provides stable and reliable service to its customers and promised to share information about the root cause as soon as it becomes available.
In September 2022, nearly 10 million Optus customers had their data compromised in a cyber breach.
Opposition communications spokesman David Coleman described the recent outage as a catastrophic incident and called on the government to utilize its powers to assist Optus. He stressed that the government should take a proactive role in resolving the situation.
Originally posted on news.com.au