- Oct 2, 2011
- 1,552
One of the country's largest telecommunications networks is slowly coming back online after experiencing a massive nationwide outage on mobile and broadband devices.
With banks, hospitals, and businesses affected, the blackout struck millions of Optus customers.
So how long has the outage been going, and how long will it last?
Optus users began reporting outages at 4.05am on Wednesday morning.
Customers have been unable to make calls or access mobile data since then.
Users on both mobile, landline and broadband networks were hit by the outage, which lasted about nine hours before some services began to be restored.
Optus Mobile customers are reporting their phones showing SOS on the signal indicator, which is a sign that your regular network is down, but that your phone has access to alternate networks in the event of an emergency call.
The shutdown is the longest, and largest in recent memory.
Speaking to 2GB at 12:30pm, Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin said the company had "a path to restoring the whole network."
"We're bringing it up progressively as we speak."
Some customers have reported their Optus service is back online. Optus has said restoration to full services will take "hours".
"We reiterate our apology to customers for the nationwide service outage that has occurred this morning," a spokesperson said.
"Some services across fixed and mobile are now gradually being restored.
"This may take a few hours for all services to recover and different services may restore at different sites over that time."
Earlier, the CEO told the media that they are working towards restoring the network progressively.
"We're doing everything we can to bring it back up as quickly as we can," Rosmarin said.
"We're working very closely with all of our corporate customers to make sure that they have what they need, and are managing through the impact as we restore service.
"Not only are we working extremely hard to restore the services as quickly as possible, but we will also make sure we understand what occurred and prevent it from ever happening again."
With banks, hospitals, and businesses affected, the blackout struck millions of Optus customers.
So how long has the outage been going, and how long will it last?
Optus users began reporting outages at 4.05am on Wednesday morning.
Customers have been unable to make calls or access mobile data since then.
Users on both mobile, landline and broadband networks were hit by the outage, which lasted about nine hours before some services began to be restored.
Optus Mobile customers are reporting their phones showing SOS on the signal indicator, which is a sign that your regular network is down, but that your phone has access to alternate networks in the event of an emergency call.
The shutdown is the longest, and largest in recent memory.
Speaking to 2GB at 12:30pm, Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin said the company had "a path to restoring the whole network."
"We're bringing it up progressively as we speak."
Some customers have reported their Optus service is back online. Optus has said restoration to full services will take "hours".
"We reiterate our apology to customers for the nationwide service outage that has occurred this morning," a spokesperson said.
"Some services across fixed and mobile are now gradually being restored.
"This may take a few hours for all services to recover and different services may restore at different sites over that time."
Earlier, the CEO told the media that they are working towards restoring the network progressively.
"We're doing everything we can to bring it back up as quickly as we can," Rosmarin said.
"We're working very closely with all of our corporate customers to make sure that they have what they need, and are managing through the impact as we restore service.
"Not only are we working extremely hard to restore the services as quickly as possible, but we will also make sure we understand what occurred and prevent it from ever happening again."
Is Optus still down, and what happens next?
The telco has "a path to restoring the whole network", but head office still doesn't know the root cause.
www.9news.com.au
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