Telstra's chief financial officer, Michael Ackland, revealed that a software defect in an update impacted the company's time server, causing a nearly five-hour national mobile outage on Wednesday. The disruption halted train lines, affected traffic lights, stopped Eftpos payments, and prevented electric vehicle charging.
Cause of the Outage
At a press conference, Ackland explained that time-keeping servers, which synchronise time across the network, malfunctioned. "Lots of computer systems, they have to synchronise time. It's one of the ways that you authenticate what's going on in the network, and the time synchronisation in those nodes wasn't working as it should," he said. Later, he confirmed a software defect in an update caused the issue.
Widespread Impact
The outage affected Telstra's large customer base and smaller mobile companies using its network. It echoed previous major disruptions, including the 2024 global CrowdStrike outage, the 2023 Optus national outage, and the 2025 Optus triple-zero failure. Communications Minister Anika Wells noted, "There is a reason that telcos are the least trusted industry in Australia – it's days like today."
Government Response and Resilience Questions
The federal government responded quickly, with Wells returning from leave. The Australian Communications and Media Authority has been asked to investigate. Experts stressed the need for redundancy. Hussein Dia, professor at Swinburne University, said, "As transport networks become more digital, they need communications systems that can tolerate faults without bringing an entire network to a standstill." Adjunct Assoc Prof Graeme Hughes recommended mandating multi-carrier routing for essential services.
Assoc Prof Mamello Thinyane of Adelaide University suggested businesses use multiple connection types across providers. "What is for sure is that this will not be the last network outage in Australia," he said.
