In Australia, a total outage at the second largest mobile phone provider Optus has paralyzed the telephone and internet connections of more than ten million people. Since the early hours of the morning (local time), customers across the country have been unable to make calls or go online, Australian media reported.
According to a report by broadcaster 9News, it is the largest telecommunications outage in the country’s history. In a statement from the company published at midday, it said it would probably take hours until the network was restored.
“The good news is that we have found a way to restore the entire network,” said Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin. However, this can only happen gradually and will take some time. It was unclear what caused the failure. The authorities ruled out a cyber attack. “This is a very unusual incident and as soon as we understand exactly what happened, we will provide details,” stressed Rosmarin.
Among other things, telephone connections to hospitals and emergency services were interrupted. “If Optus customers need to call emergency services, we recommend finding a family member or neighbor with an alternative device,” the website said. There were also transport delays and mobile payment system failures.
Optus is Australia’s second largest provider after Telstra. The company only made headlines last year when hackers stole sensitive data from millions of Australians in an attack.
