A nationwide Telstra outage that disrupted Triple Zero, EFTPOS terminals, public transport and parcel deliveries has sparked fierce criticism from the Communication Workers Union (CWU), while the communications regulator has launched an investigation into whether the telecommunications giant complied with its legal obligations.
The outage, which affected voice and data services across Australia, also impacted emergency calls, prompting welfare checks for some callers who were unable to connect to Triple Zero.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) confirmed it had opened an investigation into whether Telstra complied with its obligations under emergency call and customer communications regulations.
“The ACMA is opening an investigation into whether Telstra has complied with its regulatory obligations.”
Communications Minister Anika Wells said restoring services and ensuring the safety of affected callers remained the immediate priority. “The key priorities for today are to get people back online and ensure any welfare checks are completed urgently,” Wells said.
“The Australian Communications and Media Authority will then conduct a full investigation, and Telstra will need to account for how and why this outage occurred.”
She also confirmed that some emergency calls failed to connect during the outage, urging Australians not to make test calls to Triple Zero and to use another device, a landline or Wi-Fi calling if they experienced difficulties.
Telstra said around 90 per cent of affected services had been restored by afternoon.
Chief Financial Officer Michael Ackland, who is acting while Chief Executive Vicki Brady is on annual leave overseas, said the company was making good progress in restoring services and carrying out welfare checks for affected emergency callers.
Meanwhile, the Communication Workers Union blamed the outage on years of workforce cuts at Australia’s largest telecommunications provider.
CWU National Secretary Shane Murphy described the disruption as “utterly shameful”, arguing that Telstra had weakened its network by reducing its workforce.
“This is what happens when you prioritise the bottom line over critical services; you get an unreliable network that lets Australians down time and time again.”
He said the outage had affected essential services, with Triple Zero calls diverted, businesses unable to process EFTPOS payments, Australia Post workers unable to scan deliveries, and regional train services disrupted.
“Telstra needs to own up to its mistakes and do better. This cannot happen again; the consequences are far too great.”
The union has called on Telstra to invest in its domestic workforce, reduce outsourced services and strengthen the reliability of its network.
Ambulance Victoria said it had activated contingency plans during the disruption and continued dispatching ambulances to life-threatening and serious medical emergencies.
The cause of the outage remains under investigation.
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