Australia's second-largest telecommunications provider Optus has been hit by another significant network outage, leaving thousands of customers without reliable service across the country.
Widespread Service Disruption
The latest Optus network failure occurred on Wednesday, marking the second major service disruption for the telco in recent months. Customers began reporting issues with mobile data, call connectivity, and internet services during the morning hours, with problems persisting throughout the day.
Downdetector Australia recorded a massive spike in outage reports, with complaints peaking at over 2,000 by midday. The service monitoring platform showed that the majority of issues were concentrated in major metropolitan areas, including Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane.
Customer Frustration Mounts
Affected customers took to social media to express their frustration, with many reporting they were unable to make or receive calls, access mobile data, or use internet-dependent services. Business owners particularly voiced concerns about the impact on their operations.
One small business owner from Melbourne commented: 'This is the second time in months we've lost connectivity during business hours. It's costing us real money when we can't process transactions or communicate with clients.'
Optus acknowledged the service problems through their official social media channels, stating: 'We're aware of an issue that may be impacting some of our mobile and internet services. Our teams are investigating urgently to restore services as quickly as possible.'
Compensation and Previous Outage
The current service failure comes just months after Optus suffered a massive nationwide blackout in November that affected more than 10 million services. That incident prompted widespread criticism and led to the company offering compensation to affected customers.
Following the November outage, Optus provided eligible customers with 200GB of extra data as compensation. The telco has not yet announced what compensation, if any, will be offered to customers affected by today's service disruption.
The telecommunications industry watchdog has been monitoring the situation closely, given the recent history of service reliability issues with the provider. Consumer advocacy groups are calling for greater transparency from Optus about the cause of the recurring problems.
Customers experiencing issues are advised to check Optus's service status page for updates and report any ongoing problems through official support channels. The company has not provided a specific timeline for full service restoration but indicates teams are working to resolve the issues progressively.
