The “frustrated” Australian Government minister has sent a stern message amid an ongoing national Optus outage affecting as many as 10 million people.
The outage, which began shortly after 4am, has entered its eighth hour.
News.com.au understands as of 12.35pm (AEDT), customers’ mobile and fixed-line services are gradually coming back online.
Optus suffered one of its most extensive outages on Wednesday, leaving hospitals, businesses, transport networks and other government services in chaos for over eight hours.
The outage has created significant delays for commuters, impacted health services and affected online banking.
Communications minister Michelle Rowland vented the nation’s “frustration” to the press shortly after 11am (AEDT), stressing it was vital for Optus to be “transparent and timely” in finding a solution.
“(The) frustration is not only in terms of inconvenience but also economic frustration as well,” she declared.
“From the outset, I reiterate that it is vital for Optus to be transparent and timely.
“It is essential that we have that timeliness and the transparency to get consumers competence what is a vital part of our infrastructure and services in this country.”
Ms Rowland said there is no known timeline when services will be restored.
She added while it’s too early to enter discussions regarding compensation that, people experiencing financial loss due to the outage should document such evidence.
“I do reiterate the statement of the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) that it is important, especially for small businesses, to keep receipts so that any recourse and any redress that may be available to them has that evidentiary base,” she said.
“We are now at 11am. For a lot of people who are trying to get on with their day in their businesses, this is absolutely vital that they get back to normality.”
Ms Rowland added 000 calls can currently be made from Optus mobile phones but not landlines.
Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin told ABC Radio the outage occurred at roughly 4.05am (AEDT) this morning and is doubtful the cause is a “hack”.
“There is no indication that there is anything to do with cyber at this stage,” she said.
Earlier this morning, she confirmed that the government is “seeking information from Optus on the major outage”.
“Our systems are actually very stable, we provide great coverage to our customers, this is a very rare occurrence.”
Ms Bayer Rosmarin was unable to confirm a cause, or a timeframe for a fix.
“We are working really hard to get it up and running as soon as we possibly can,” she said.
“The team has tried a number of paths of restoration.
“So far, we have not had the result we have hoped for and we’re pursuing every avenue to get everybody back online as soon as possible.”
Ubers, small businesses and even snake catchers are among traders nationwide who have been thrown into disarray amid a major national outage of Optus services.
The outages are impacting carriers and fixed networks, meaning businesses that use the telco are without EFTPOS and are forced to trade in cash.
Countless reports of impacted trade have flowed in from across the country.
An Optus spokesperson said the telco is “aware of an issue that may be impacting some of our mobile and internet customers”.
“Our teams are working to restore services as soon as possible. We will provide an update as soon as we are able,” the telco said.
“We are currently working to identify the cause and apologise for any inconvenience.”
Customers should still be able to make triple-0 calls in an emergency.
Trevor Long, a leading Australian tech journalist, told 2GB it’s the “biggest telco outage we’ve ever seen before”.
It’s the second major incident for the telco in two years after almost 10 million Optus customers had their personal details compromised in 2022 when hackers taunted the public for weeks by releasing the details of 10,000 customers on the dark web.
– with NCA Newswire
