Australia vows to bolster resilience of telco networks after Singtel-owned Optus outage
The Australian government has pledged to enhance the resilience of the nation's telecommunications networks following a recent outage at Optus, the country's second-largest carrier. The 76-minute technical glitch, which affected Optus voice calling services in parts of Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, and the Northern Territory, raised concerns about the stability of critical infrastructure.
Communications Minister Anika Wells emphasized the need to make these systems as resilient as possible, acknowledging that no piece of infrastructure is 100% resilient. This incident follows a similar issue last year that left people unable to contact emergency services, resulting in two deaths. Optus, owned by Singapore Telecommunications, apologized for the glitch and stated that it was being investigated.
In 2024, Optus was fined A$12 million by regulators for failing to provide emergency call services during a nationwide outage in 2023, and the company also suffered a cyberattack in 2022 that affected the data of around 9.5 million Australians.
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