Telstra glitches continue as ‘secondary’ outage hits triple-zero calls and regional trains remain stranded

Lead

Telstra customers experienced renewed disruptions on Thursday morning as a secondary issue stemming from the company’s nationwide outage on Wednesday continued to affect calls, including those to the Triple Zero emergency number. The issue, which Telstra said had been reduced in frequency by approximately 90 per cent, persisted despite the company having resolved the initial fault.

Coverage Comparison

ABC Australia reported Telstra’s confirmation that work was ongoing to resolve the “secondary issue” affecting customers trying to make calls, including to Triple Zero. Telstra’s chief financial officer, Michael Ackland, said the company had fixed the initial problem, but the secondary issue was still impacting emergency calls. The frequency of the Triple Zero call error had been reduced by approximately 90 per cent, but some people might still be unable to contact the emergency service.

The Guardian also covered the ongoing difficulties, reporting that Telstra customers were still having trouble calling Triple Zero on Thursday morning as the company confirmed a secondary issue stemming from Wednesday’s national outage. Some calls were going straight to message bank or not going through, and Telstra advised customers to wait for the phone to connect to an alternative network or to use a different device.

Both outlets reported that regional train services in Victoria remained suspended, with V/Line services unable to operate. Commuters in New South Wales and Victoria were urged to plan ahead due to transport disruptions. The Guardian reported that the New South Wales transport department warned passengers on Sydney Trains and NSW TrainLink regional rail services to expect “flow-on impacts,” while Victorians were advised not to travel on V/Line services if possible, with only a limited coach service available. Metro rail services in Sydney and Melbourne were unaffected.

Key Claims

• Telstra experienced a nationwide outage on Wednesday that affected mobile calls and data connections for millions of Australians. The company identified a critical software defect in its data centres as the cause.
• A secondary issue emerged on Thursday, continuing to impact calls, including to Triple Zero. Telstra said the occurrence of this secondary issue had been reduced by 90 per cent.
• More than 300 Triple Zero calls were affected across the country, according to Telstra. The company conducted welfare checks on over 300 people who attempted to dial the emergency number.
• State and territory police conducted welfare checks on individuals who had calls to Triple Zero drop out. In Queensland, police identified 21 people who attempted to call for help but were unable to get through. Superintendent Brook Dwyer said every person had since been contacted.
• The federal Communications Minister, Anika Wells, was informed about the outage about two and a half hours after Telstra first detected an issue. Telstra defended its communication process, saying the government and other stakeholders were informed “very, very early” in the morning.
• Telstra reported that as of 4pm on Wednesday the problem had been resolved and remaining affected services would be restored within hours.

Perspectives

The federal government expressed concern about the outage’s impact on emergency services. Communications Minister Anika Wells told ABC radio that while the issue had been “largely resolved,” residual problems remained. Industry Minister Tim Ayres told the ABC that “100% is the only acceptable figure here” regarding the performance of the Triple Zero service.

Telstra apologised for the impact and stated that its investigation into the root cause was underway. The company said it was confident it had identified a software defect and had been able to isolate it, and it emphasised that its welfare check process would contact callers who experienced failed Triple Zero calls.

Queensland Police defended their response, with Superintendent Brook Dwyer stating that “every single person” who had been identified as a failed caller had been contacted. He noted that in seven cases, police sent cars to the individuals’ locations.

A senior Liberal denied breaking the law by test-calling the emergency number to check for connection issues, a move that was criticised by Labor as “outrageous.”

Timeline and Investigation

Telstra first identified a problem at about 4:30am on Wednesday. The company briefly put a message about the outage on its website at about 6:15am and provided comment to media at about 6:35am. Ms Wells’s office was directly informed at about 7am. The minister, who returned from leave to respond, said a “detailed” timeline of the incident was being collated by Australia’s Triple Zero custodian, noting this was one of the lessons from last year’s Optus outage. Investigations into the impact on emergency services were continuing.