Aussie telco Telstra is currently battling the mother of all borks after blaming a “software defect” for an outage that downed emergency services calls and public transport lines. Telstra blamed the 12-hour outage, which it discovered at around 0430 AEST on Wednesday, on issues at time-keeping servers located in datacenters in Sydney and Melbourne. It explicitly ruled out the possibility of a cyberattack. Australia’s Triple Zero Custodian, which oversees the functionality of the country’s emergency services line, confirmed that some calls were not connecting, according to communications minister Anika Wells. This was also confirmed by Sarah Henderson, the country's shadow communications minister, who refused to apologize after claiming to have made two Triple Zero test calls to investigate the issues herself. Henderson made the calls despite the government urging members of the public to refrain from testing the service. Not only does it potentially prevent those in need from requesting timely support, but it’s also punishable as a crime. Michael Ackland, Telstra’s CFO, confirmed the company tested its connections to the Triple Zero network early in the morning and it was working. While CEO Vicki Brady is on holiday overseas, Ackland added that as of 1730 AEST, the company had completed 395 welfare checks related to people who had tried to reach emergency services. Of these, six people said they needed assistance, and Telstra “addressed that directly with emergency services.” Seventy-nine people were also referred to local police for welfare checks. The remaining 310 people confirmed they did not need assistance either via SMS or follow-up voice calls. “The volume of welfare checks was higher than we expected, which prompted us to investigate further,” Ackland said in an update. “In some cases, a phone wasn't able to connect correctly on its first call attempt, which triggered a callback from us. In other cases, the call was picked up by the TPG or Optus networks and connected successfully. “We expect these numbers are inflated by a larger number of people calling to test Triple Zero, and as a flow-on from the core issue. Our backup systems worked as they should throughout.” Transport chaos Despite Tlestra claiming the issue is now resolved, Australians who rely on public transport will continue to manage the fallout into Thursday as Victoria’s V/Line network has suspended all routes owing to the outage. “Services continue to be impacted following the national Telstra outage,” states V/Line’s status page. “This includes all services tonight and tomorrow morning. Passengers are advised to defer travel where possible. There is no estimated time for rectification at this stage. We anticipate services to be impacted until clearance time is given.” Additionally, Transport NSW continues to warn of ongoing service disruption on its network, although it does not appear as extensive as in neighboring Victoria. Wider reports also indicate that payment services were affected as a result of Telstra’s outage. Taxi drivers told local news stations they were unable to accept payments for rides, while small businesses such as cafes were also experiencing issues. Payments company and POS provider Tyro confirmed its network was affected by the outage and that around 80,000 businesses using its EFTPOS terminals would struggle to collect payments if connecting over 4G. ABC News court reporter Sophie Jaggers also confirmed that several lawyers were unable to reach their clients to remind them of court appearances because of the outage, and that two cases had been stood down as a result. What next? Telstra, one of Australia’s major mobile network operators, urged customers to remain vigilant to potential fraudsters looking to capitalize on the chaos. “If you get a call from someone claiming to be from Telstra asking for your details in light of today's outage, hang up and call us directly,” Ackland said. The carrier, which serves around 25 million Australians, said customers may need to tinker with their tech to get it back online. Most devices should reconnect automatically, but it also might require a restart; simply switching airplane mode on and off may not be sufficient. Ackland promised to continue updating customers as the investigation continues and apologised to those who rely on Telstra’s service. “We know how much our customers rely on us to get it right – to do their jobs, run their businesses, stay safe and keep in touch,” he said. “We're deeply sorry for the impact this issue has had on so many people today.” Politicians confirmed that Telstra’s outage will be investigated by the Australian Communications and Media Authority, the country’s communications regulator. Telstra isn’t alone when it comes to major outages in Australia. A bodged firewall upgrade carried out by fellow telco Optus in September 2025 led to a similar 14-hour outage that also prevented Australians from reaching the Triple Zero network. As The Register reported at the time, the subsequent welfare checks Optus carried out led to the discovery that two people had died as a result. The blunder followed a significant data breach in 2022, and a separate high-impact outage in 2023. ®
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