TRANSCRIPT
Optus has been hit by a nationwide outage, cutting phone and internet services to millions of Australians.
The company released a post on X (formerly Twitter) that said it was working to restore communications as quickly as possible.
Speaking to ABC Radio, Optus C-E-O Kelly Bayer Rosmarin says Optus doesn't know what caused the outage.
"Our team is still pursuing every possible avenue. We had a number of hypotheses and each one, so far, that we've tested and put in place new actions for, has not solved the fundamental issue. So, we're still working on it and when we have an identified root cause and a time for restoration, we'll be updating everybody as soon as we can."
A number of essential services have been affected by the outage, including hospitals, police and firefighters.
Telecommunications Minister Michelle Rowland has urged Optus to provide better messaging to its customers.
"I would urge Optus to utilise other mechanisms, including broadcasting, radio and television, to get these messages out. As long as people know something is happening, that people are on the job and they have some expectations, then I think that will allay some concerns that are there right now."
Michelle Rowland says the federal government expects the telecommunications carrier to continue to provide timely updates to the millions of Australians who depend on its services.
"From the outset, I reiterate, that it is vital for Optus to be transparent and timely in the updates that it is giving to its customers about the nature of the fault, its impacts, and its possible rectification.”
Cybersecurity experts say the nationwide Optus outage highlights the fragility of Australia's communication network.
C-E-O of the Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre Rachel Falk says the outage is "unprecedented" in its scale.
"As we see, the fragility of the telco network, it connects everyone to everything, it connects obviously train services, hospitals, internet, phone services, and it's right from Cairns to Melbourne to Perth to across here to the east coast."
Melbourne train services suffered heavy delays and interruptions, reportedly due to the outage.
All metropolitan services were stopped from about 4.30 this morning due to a communications fault across the train network.
Train services resumed just before 6am but major delays continued throughout the morning peak.
