Australia: Ten million people without internet

In Australia, a complete outage at the second-largest mobile phone provider Optus paralyzed phone and Internet connections for more than ten million people for several hours. Between 4am and 5:30pm (local time), customers across the country will be unable to make calls It is still possible to connect to the InternetAustralian media reported on Wednesday. According to a report by Radio 9News, this was the largest telecommunications outage in the country’s history.

It was not clear what caused the failure. The authorities ruled out a cyber attack. Rosmarin confirmed: “This is a very unusual incident, and as soon as we understand exactly what happened, we will provide the details.”

No emergency service calls are possible

Among other things, telephone communications with hospitals and emergency services were cut off. “If Optus customers need to contact emergency services, we recommend finding a family member or neighbor with an alternative device,” the website said. There were also delays in transportation and Failure of mobile payment systems. According to media reports, Melbourne’s train network was forced to stop operating for approximately 30 minutes due to a power outage.

“I was late for work and couldn’t tell my boss. “When I got to the site, I couldn’t find my boss,” one customer told Reuters.

Criticism of the government

The Wall Street Journal reported that government officials strongly criticized the power outages. It is criticized that Optus has been slow to provide information about events. “The company must now take action and reach out to people. “I have emphasized this from the beginning and I urge Optus to continue to do so,” Australian Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said.

Optus is the second largest provider in Australia after Telstra. The company made headlines just last year when hackers stole sensitive data from millions of Australians in an attack.

(dpa/jar)View comments