Optus outage: Government pledges review into network collapse
The federal government will launch a review into the massive Optus outage yesterday that left millions of Australians without phone or broadband coverage.
More than 10 million Optus customers were caught up in the network collapse, while hospitals, banks, and government departments were also affected.
"It is critical that industry and government take stock following large-scale outages, given no network is immune," Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said in a statement announcing the review.
READ MORE: Optus services trickle back online after 'biggest outage in Australian history'
Millions were hit by an Optus outage yesterday. Chris Hopkins
No timeline for the investigation has been given.
Optus has been so far unable to explain the cause of the crash that took place at about 4am yesterday, pointing only to a technical fault.
However, the Department of Home Affairs has said it wasn't believed to be a cyber-attack.
READ MORE: Optus flags 'reward' for customers after massive outage
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland has pledged a government review. Nine
The big four banks all experienced connectivity issues due to the fallout, while Melbourne's metro rail network endured a brief shutdown in the early morning.
Some mobile calls to Triple Zero were affected, and Optus landlines were cut off from contacting emergency services.
One woman said the outage cost her the chance to say goodbye to her dying mother, as hospital staff could not contact her.
READ MORE: When the Optus boss has to use WhatsApp to talk, you know it's bad
9News tech expert Trevor Long said Optus' continued silence around the cause of the fault was a problem.
"They fixed it, so they know what the problem is and where the problem is," he told Today,
"They need to tell us what it was because the customers deserve an answer."
He said it was a "massive failure" of Optus' network design.
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