Communications minister Michelle Rowland on Optus outage
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Communications minister Michelle Rowland on Optus outage
Which ASX shares could be impacted by the Optus outage?
Image source: Getty Images
Optus is experiencing a nationwide outage today in yet another bungle for Australia’s second-largest telco provider, straining its relationship with customers. However, the Optus fallout may extend to ASX shares reliant on the network provider.
Believed to have started around 3 am, the network interruption has left millions of customers unable to make phone calls, access the internet, or use other network-connected services.
With its network being used by approximately 10 million Australian customers, the consequences of the outage are significant and far-reaching.
Critical infrastructure falls into chaos
A year and one month after Optus suffered one of the largest cyber attacks in Australian history, the Singtel-owned telco is in hot water once again as the country plunges into a networking nightmare.
At 5:47 am, Optus acknowledged the issues, saying they were “working to restore services as quickly as possible.”, as shown below. However, no details on the cause of the outage have been provided at this point in time.
Without any specific details from the source, some have speculated the issue faced by Optus could be a major one. Meanwhile, Australia’s communications minister Michelle Rowland has suggested the cause appears to be a “deep network problem”.
How Optus outage could hurt and help other ASX shares
Connectivity is a deeply rooted necessity in the modern world. As such, the outage has knock-on effects across Australian companies, including those offering tradeable shares on the ASX. For some, the impact could be a positive while potentially damaging for others.
Several large ASX-listed companies have publicly reported issues with taking inbound phone calls. These include Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC), Ramsay Health Care Ltd (ASX: RHC), and Insurance Australia Group (ASX: IAG)-owned NRMA insurance.
Likewise, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) customers may experience issues with receiving their NetCode texts for account access.
Furthermore, a handful of ASX shares might be impacted today due to their network dependence. Though not confirmed, Australian EFTPOS terminal operators such as Tyro Payments Ltd (ASX: TYR), Smartpay Holdings Ltd (ASX: SMP), and Block Inc (ASX: SQ2) may see fewer transactions depending on their customers’ chosen network provider.
Aussie Broadband Ltd (ASX: ABB) also relies on the Optus network for its mobile customers. The smaller ASX telco share is up 3.42% to $3.785 despite the mobile meltdown.
Lastly, Telstra Group Ltd (ASX: TLS) could be one ASX share that stands to benefit from the Optus outage. Events like these can leave disgruntled customers searching for a new network provider. The Telstra share price is up 2.45% to $3.965 as we approach midday.
Optus outage cash: Warning against cashless society as EFTPOS down
As the chaos caused by this morning’s Optus outage continues to unfold, outraged Aussies have used the situation as proof a fully cashless society would spell “total disaster” for the country.
Businesses across the country have been left unable to open their doors this morning, with those that rely on the Optus network left unable to use EFTPOS machines.
Cafes, Uber drivers, mechanics and snake catchers alike have been forced to either close up shop or are unable to provide their usual services due to the outage, which is impacting 10 million customers.
Not having access to EFTPOS machines means many businesses are now having to rely solely on cash payments if they want to keep trading, a move that isn’t easy in an increasingly cashless society.
Aussies who have been pushing back against the phasing out of physical money have used today’s outrage as fuel, saying the ensuing chaos is undeniable truth that “cash is king”.
Popular Facebook group Cash Welcome posted that only people with “notes and coins can buy stuff” this morning, while trains, businesses and consumers have been left “stranded”.
“Cash – don’t leave home without it,” the post read.
One Facebook user wrote: “Can anyone imagine what will happen if we go cashless in this country. It will be a total disaster, we all must stop a cashless Australia from happening. If every person went to there (sic) bank just once a week and withdrew cash we could avoid this stupidity.”
Another person claimed that the outage proves to “all the idiots that support the idea of a cashless society” that phasing out physical money is a “stupid idea”.
Members of the Cash is King group have also jumped on the situation, with many using it as an opportunity to essentially tell the rest of the country “I told you so’.
“There’s a price to pay for convenience & laziness. Have cash, and these situations won’t be an issue,” one person said.
“Goes to show just how reliant/vulnerable we are by using technology,” another said.
Many have taken aim at cashless businesses, saying it is “hilarious” that places that previously refused cash are now “begging for us to find the nearest ATM”.
Some have even gone as far as to claim the outage is a good thing, as it reminds people that the need for cash is still there.
“Hope the outage lasts all day,” one person wrote, with another adding that they hope it lasts all week.
Earlier this month, RMIT University finance expert Dr Angel Zhong said it was inevitable that Australia would become a cashless society.
“The convenience of digital transactions has become irresistible for consumers and businesses and has led to the sector eclipsing traditional payment methods,” she told NCA NewsWire.
Cash will be used so rarely that Australia will be effectively cashless by 2025, Dr Zhong said.
Only around 13 per cent of payments are now made in cash, down from 30 per cent in 2019, with the rapid decrease attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic.
This is one of the biggest outages Optus has ever seen. According to Downdetector, reports of the outage started about 4am on Wednesday morning, with issues reported across the country in Perth, Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney and Adelaide.
It isn’t just businesses that are hurting this morning, with transport systems thrown into chaos, health services impacted and online banking affected.
Customers have now been urged to not attempt to contact emergency services from an Optus landline, as it will not work.
“We encourage any customers who need to contact emergency services to use a mobile line to call 000,” an Optus spokesperson.
“Optus can confirm that triple zero (“000”) calls will not work from an Optus landline (fixed line telephone). Mobile calls to 000 will work if another carrier is available.
“Our teams are working to restore services as soon as possible. We will provide an update as soon as we are able.
“We are currently working to identify the cause and apologise for any inconvenience.”
A Home Affairs department spokesperson said they have received “no indication that this is a cyber incident” but the nature of the outage is under ongoing investigation.
Optus customers have taken to social media to blast the telco, slamming the outage as an “absolute failure”.
“Woke up this morning thinking I will have a peaceful work from home day but Optus said NO,” one person wrote.
Another person claimed they were “stranded” as there were no trains running, they couldn’t book an Uber, make calls or send messages.
“What’s going on. This is crazy had my ID data stolen and now this, no network,” another said.
What the Optus outage means for AFR subscribers
The nationwide Optus outage has triggered a service disruption to some subscribers of The Australian Financial Review.
Unfortunately, the outage means our contact centre 13 66 66 is currently unable to take any phone calls.
If you need contact us, please visit help.afr.com and click on the “submit a request” button.
Additionally, the outage has also affected many Nine-owned newspaper deliveries, resulting in a number of late deliveries. If you haven’t received your newspaper, please send us a request and we’ll credit your account as soon as possible.
You can also keep up to date on the outage on afr.com, with the latest news here and in the live blog here.
Telstra share price soars amid Optus outage chaos
Image source: Getty Images
The Telstra Group Ltd (ASX: TLS) share price is up more than 1% as Optus faces a national outage of its network. The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is flat, so it’s a solid start to the day for the ASX telco share.
Investors may be betting that Telstra can benefit in the longer term from this outage.
What’s going on with Optus?
According to reporting by various media outlets, including the ABC, an Optus outage has left millions of Australians without mobile and internet services.
An outage first occurred at about 4 am, with customers not able to make or receive calls, with mobile internet services also impacted.
Optus said:
Optus is aware of an issue that may be impacting some of our mobile and internet customers. We are currently working to identify the cause and apologise for any inconvenience. In case of an emergency customers can still call triple zero.
The ABC also reported that Federal Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said initial advice from Optus was that it was due to problems deep within the network:
It does sound like it is a significant part of what we call the core network – so basically the brains of the network have been impacted here.
At this stage, the Department of Home Affairs has not seen any evidence it is a cyber attack.
A number of entities are affected by this, including hospitals and trains in Melbourne as well as the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA).
Telstra shares to benefit?
Telstra is the biggest telecommunications business in Australia and I’m sure would like to say that the Telstra network is more reliable than the Optus one.
The telco may be able to benefit if it wins customers who change providers as a result of today’s loss of connection.
It’s not just individuals affected by this – large entities are being impacted. If Telstra is able to pick up some of these enterprises then it could be a material boost to the corporate-focused side of the business.
Telstra is investing heavily in its 5G network to have the best offering and today’s Optus pain could be Telstra’s gain.
Telstra share price snapshot
Since the start of 2023, the telco’s shares are almost flat, as we can see on the chart.
Optus nationwide outage: Telco confirms landline customers can’t contact emergency services
Optus has warned customers affected by a massive nationwide outage that calls to emergency services will not work from their landlines.
Up to 10 million users of the telco’s broadband, landline and mobile services have been affected since early Wednesday morning.
Optus outage disrupts Victorian emergency services' contact with patients
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Optus boss's apology as outage stretches into Wednesday
Millions of Australian customers and businesses are affected by the nationwide outage that has hit Optus’s mobile phone and internet services.
Optus has suffered a major nationwide outage. Here’s what we know about what happened
Millions of customers of Australia’s second-largest telecommunications company, Optus, have been hit by an outage of mobile phone and internet services.
The outage has also impacted hundreds of thousands of businesses, and has impacted some government services, public health systems and public transport systems.
Here’s what we know about the outage so far.
When did the Optus outage start?
Many Optus customers woke up to see their phones had lost connectivity this morning, but the outage was first reported as early as 4am AEDT.
Customers managed to vent their frustrations on social media using other means, before Optus confirmed the outage.
“Optus is aware of an issue that may be impacting some of our mobile and internet customers. We are currently working to identify the cause and apologise for any inconvenience,” the company said in a statement.
On social media platform X, Optus’ support team said: “Our teams are working urgently to restore services. We will provide updates as soon as possible. We apologise sincerely to our customers.”
It appears Optus customers have not been contacted directly by Optus via email at the time of writing.
Who is affected?
More than 10 million Optus customers are believed to be impacted, as well as around 400,000 businesses and some government, health and transport systems.
Many businesses are unable to allow customers to make EFTPOS payments.
People who are customers of mobile providers which use the Optus network are also impacted.
The Australian Department of Home Affairs says the outage has impacted “phone lines, mobiles and some web services for the Department of Home Affairs and Australian Border Force”.
“The department is investigating options to restore client services as a priority. At this time, the restoration time is unknown,” it says.
All major hospitals in Melbourne have also been impacted, including Victoria’s Virtual Emergency Department.
Northern Health, which manages hospitals in the city’s outer north, reported phone lines into its campuses were down and apologised for the inconvenience.
All of Melbourne’s train services stopped temporarily due to a communications outage on Wednesday morning, and Metro Trains said it was unable to rely on its back-up system which uses the Optus mobile network.
Services have now resumed, but passengers have been warned there will be delays and should reconsider their travel options.
Can Optus customers still call triple-0?
Emergency calls should work on mobile phones — if you’re an Optus customer you should see “SOS” on your phone where your signal strength usually is — however, there are issues with making triple-0 calls from Optus landlines.
In a statement, Optus said:
“We encourage any customers who need to contact emergency services to use a mobile line to call 000. Optus can confirm that triple zero (000) calls will not work from an Optus landline (fixed line telephone). Mobile calls to 000 will work if another carrier is available.”
Andrew Williams, the CEO of the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network, told ABC News that he had been assured by Optus that customers could ring triple-0 on mobile phones, as the call would be handled by one of the other phone networks.
He said Optus landlines, however, won’t be able to contact triple-0.
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A carer told ABC Radio Melbourne that they had difficulty calling an ambulance this morning.
“One of my patients had a cardiac arrest, I couldn’t call an ambulance,” he said. “I had to run out on the street and borrow a phone from someone walking his dog.”
What is the cause of the outage?
It isn’t clear yet.
Optus says it is working to identify the cause, but at this stage federal authorities do not believe it is the result of a cyber attack.
Mr Williams said a variety of things could cause outages.
“One of the major carriers had one a few years ago, where a fibre optic able got cut. Others have been software glitches and software problems which crashed networks.”
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said the government was seeking further information from Optus, and when the company expects services to be restored.
“We urge Optus to utilise other mechanisms, including broadcasting, radio, and television to get these messages out,” she told ABC Radio National.
Optus suffered a major cyberattack in September 2022, which led to more than 2 million customers having their personal identification documents compromised by hackers.