Telstra chief financial officer Michael Ackland has apologised for a national outage that disrupted trains, transactions and some triple-zero calls, as the telco worked through a software fault that caused the GPS node to reset.
Triple-zero calls affected
On Thursday, a secondary issue on the network left hundreds unable to connect to the emergency hotline, a day after the major outage. Customers received error messages when trying to call triple zero as their phones attempted to connect to an alternative network. Ackland said the problem was a consequence of the same defect but required a different fix.
“I want to again apologise for the disruption these issues have caused to our customers and to the broader community,” he said. “Mobile networks are complex, and we will continue to work through further changes to ensure we have the most robust solution, but customers can feel confident in calling triple zero.”
Welfare checks and emergency responses
Since the outage began on Wednesday, Telstra completed 639 welfare checks. No assistance was required for 230 callers who responded by text, while 402 required follow-up calls, including 170 cases passed to police for further assessment. Seven callers said they needed assistance and their details were referred to emergency services, Ackland said.
“It is unacceptable what has happened, and our focus is on how we have addressed it through our processes,” he said. “Customers can trust the triple zero system, it’s a very robust system. No system is completely immune from impacts and outage.”
Cause of the outage
Telstra blamed Wednesday’s issues on a software fault that caused the GPS node to reset. This server tells the rest of the organisation’s systems the most accurate time to the nanosecond. A software reset changed the time and synchronisation, which was then passed on to the rest of the Telstra network. Thursday’s problem was a consequence of the same defect but needed to be addressed differently, Ackland said.
The company urged customers to immediately redial triple zero if their first call didn’t connect, as there had been “good success” of getting through on a second attempt.
Impact on trains and businesses
Telstra’s problems continued to wreak havoc on commuters. All trains on Victoria’s regional rail network were suspended on Thursday morning during the peak travel period, though services gradually returned. Telstra’s 4G network interfered with back-up satellite phones used in trains when the mobile network is unavailable, according to V/Line chief executive William Tieppo. Regional trains in New South Wales were also interrupted, but services resumed on the Southern Highlands and Hunter lines.
On Wednesday, businesses reported being unable to take customer payments due to interruptions to Eftpos terminals.
Calls for compensation and investigation
The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network chief executive Carol Bennett told Sky News the outage caused huge disruptions. “There certainly needs to be some kind of recourse to compensate customers and businesses who’ve lost a lot when it comes to these outages,” she said.
Communications minister Anika Wells said she had not yet heard of any “adverse outcomes” linked to the continuing triple-zero issues, as industry minister Tim Ayres announced a full investigation. “We’ve got a transparent investigative framework and to apply penalties where it’s necessary,” he said.
Opposition leader Angus Taylor accused the government of trying to “spin their way out” of the outage furore and defended his initial response linking the connection issues to a Chinese missile test in the Pacific. “When you haven’t had a minister out explaining what’s going on, of course Australians are asking questions, and that was a reasonable question to ask,” he said.
Ackland said the outage was not the result of a cyber incident.
Previous outages and new rules
Two deaths were linked to an outage at Optus in September 2025, which lasted almost 14 hours and affected hundreds of calls. In June, Vodafone customers experienced intermittent reception and data issues across Australia. New rules handed down by the Australian Communications and Media Authority in March require telcos to publish when an outage started and when it was restored in detail, as well as the cause.
