Australia vows to bolster resilience of telco networks after outage at Singtel-owned Optus
Technical glitch on Sep 11 affected Optus voice calling services in parts of Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania states and the Northern Territory
Australia's government committed on September 13 to enhance the resilience of the nation's telecommunications networks following a 76-minute outage at Optus, the second-largest carrier. The technical glitch impacted voice calling services in Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, and the Northern Territory on September 11, causing intermittent call dropouts for some users, according to Optus.
This incident followed a 2025 network issue that left hundreds of people unable to contact emergency services, resulting in two deaths. Communications Minister Anika Wells stated that no infrastructure, whether roads, bridges, poles, or wires, is 100% resilient and emphasized the need to improve system resilience. Optus, owned by Singtel, apologized for the glitch and described it as "deeply concerning," with the government stating that an investigation is underway.
In 2024, Optus faced a A$12 million fine for failing to provide emergency call services during a nationwide outage the previous year. Additionally, Optus experienced a cyberattack in 2022 that compromised the data of approximately 9.5 million Australians.
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