Telstra’s Chief Financial Officer, Michael Ackland, has reported that a malfunction involving network nodes has disrupted services for many customers.
In a recent statement, Telstra acknowledged a “secondary issue” that continues to affect individuals attempting to make emergency calls to Triple Zero, although the occurrence of this error has decreased by around 90 percent.
The telecommunications giant indicated that a software flaw may have played a role in the widespread outage, which left millions of Australians without the ability to make phone calls or access the internet.
Efforts are underway to fully restore services, and Telstra is also conducting welfare checks for those unable to reach Triple Zero.
The company confirmed that while the initial problem that caused the outage has been addressed, the secondary issue remains a concern for customers trying to connect with emergency services. Some users may still experience difficulties when attempting to reach Triple Zero.
On Thursday, Telstra released a statement noting that the frequency of errors associated with Triple Zero calls had significantly decreased. “Our investigation into the root cause is ongoing, but we are confident that we have identified a software defect and have successfully isolated it,” the statement read.
This update follows a major nationwide outage that affected millions of Australians, preventing them from making calls or accessing the internet. In a follow-up update after 9 PM on Wednesday, Telstra confirmed that while the root cause of the outage had been resolved, the secondary issue was still affecting emergency calls.
As part of their emergency protocol, Telstra stated that customers encountering difficulties when calling Triple Zero would receive an error message, prompting their phones to attempt to connect to another mobile network. In cases where a call to Triple Zero fails, Telstra will perform welfare checks.
The company advised customers experiencing issues to either wait for their devices to connect to an alternate network or to use a different phone. Additionally, they recommended restarting devices if problems persisted.
Michael Ackland emphasized that there is currently no evidence suggesting that “malicious activity” caused the outage. He attributed the initial disruption to malfunctioning nodes responsible for time synchronization in several data centers, which are critical for network operations.
As of Wednesday at 5:30 PM, Telstra had conducted 395 welfare checks on individuals unable to reach Triple Zero, with 85 of these calls resulting in referrals to emergency services for further assistance.
Telstra noted that the number of welfare checks conducted was higher than anticipated, leading to further investigation. In some cases, initial call attempts failed, triggering a callback from Telstra, while other calls were successfully connected through different networks such as TPG or Optus.
The company expects that the high volume of welfare checks may have been influenced by an elevated number of test calls made to Triple Zero as a result of the outage.
In the wake of this incident, telecommunications experts have called for regulatory changes to ensure that companies like Telstra are held accountable for large-scale outages. Communications Minister Anika Wells announced that the Australian Communications and Media Authority will investigate the outage, which will involve questioning Telstra about the circumstances surrounding the incident.
The outage has also affected Victoria’s regional rail network, which experienced significant disruptions on Wednesday, with only limited replacement bus services available. V/Line confirmed that morning peak services would be impacted as efforts continued to restore the network’s communications system.
V/Line CEO William Tieppo expressed optimism about restoring services for the afternoon peak, stating that testing of train units in Melbourne is currently underway.
In New South Wales, the outage similarly disrupted communications between trains and safety control centers, leading to service suspensions. The Australian Rail Track Corporation’s extensive network continues to be affected, although Sydney’s metropolitan services remain operational as they do not rely on Telstra’s 4G network.
A spokesperson for ARTC confirmed that rail services are gradually resuming as safety-critical communications are established, emphasizing the importance of the National Train Communications System for safe operations across Australia’s rail network.
