Overview
- Telstra confirmed it is investigating a widespread outage that began in the early hours on Wednesday morning and left thousands of customers unable to make mobile calls or use data while Downdetector logged more than 7,000 reports.
- Victoria’s regional rail operator V/Line suspended all services after a radio-network fault left dozens of trains stationary and passengers advised to defer travel.
- The federal government was briefed and Emergency Management Minister Kristy McBain said phones should fall back to other carriers for Triple Zero access, though some police forces warned Telstra customers were still having trouble calling emergency services.
- Businesses that rely on Telstra’s network reported interruptions to EFTPOS payments and some public-transport ticketing systems, with companies such as Tyro saying they were investigating possible system issues.
- Telstra runs Australia’s largest mobile network with about 24.9 million retail services and faces heightened scrutiny because of recent regulatory changes and a 2024 fine over a prior outage that affected emergency calls.