‘We apologise profusely’: Optus confirms network has been ‘restored’
UPDATE: Optus has issued a statement to Mumbrella, confirming that the network has been restored, and issued an apology to its customers.
“We apologise profusely,” the statement reads.
“Our network has been restored and customers should be back online.”
Optus has issued a response to a major outage across Australia that has left customers without the capabilities to make calls or use the internet.
The issue is believed to have occurred early Wednesday morning.
“We’re aware of an issue impacting Optus mobile and nbn services and are working to restore services as quickly as possible,” the telco said in a statement shared on X.
“We understand connectivity is important and apologise for any inconvenience caused.”
Other companies that use the Optus network are believed to also be impacted by the outage, including Amaysim, Coles Mobile and Dodo.
Down Detector, a website that logs issues submitted with various services, showed a massive spike in outages from 4am this morning.
To add further woes, Optus’ online media centre also appears to have crashed.
At around 8.30am, the Optus Help X page tweeted that it is “working urgently to restore services”.
Also this morning, Communications Minister Michelle Rowland has called on Optus to provide clarity to its customers.
“The impacts of this outage are concerning & has left many Australians feeling anxious,” Rowland said in a statement.
“The Government has sought further information from Optus about this development & when they expect services will be restored.
“We urge Optus to communicate with their customers by whatever means possible to keep them updated.”
Appearing on RN Breakfast, Rowland said Optus has not made contact with the minister, though she claimed the issue could be “potentially a deep network problem and one that is significant”.
Rowland shut down questions that the outage could be a cyberattack, saying “we don’t have any information on that at this stage and I would be reluctant to speculate on that.”
Meanwhile, Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin was unable to provide any update in an interview with ABC Sydney, but insisted there is “no indication that there’s anything to do with cyber at this stage”.
Mumbrella has contacted Optus for further comment and update.
At 1pm, Optus announced via social media: “Some services across fixed and mobile are now gradually being restored. This may take a few hours for all services to recover, and different services may restore at different sites over that time.”
The outage comes just over a year after Optus was forced to notify customers of a cyberattack and “the possible unauthorised access of current and former customers’ information”.
Following the attack, Optus put a stop on all marketing and spend, with Pathmatics and Sensor Tower managing director APAC, Tom Cui, telling Mumbrella, “Optus’ decision to pause its advertising spend on the day of the cyber attack comes as no surprise. With approximately ten million Aussies impacted by the data breach, any proactive marketing activity would’ve been deemed insensitive.”
And how on earth does the minister expect Optus to contact their customers when their phones are not working and their Internet is down? Smoke signals? Yes.!
User ID not verified.
Optus shares gogogo
User ID not verified.
How did Optus Tweet on X if they had no internet?
User ID not verified.
Why would a person who previously worked in a bank be made CEO of a telco?
User ID not verified.
Is it necessary to have any technical qualifications to run a major telecommunications company?
User ID not verified.
Have your say