Optus will compensate customers with 200GB of extra data for the 14-hour outage that affected over 10 million Australians and disrupted emergency services and businesses on Nov. 9.
In a statement, Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin said the free data package was a thank you to customers for their “patience” and “loyalty” following the nationwide outage.
“We really appreciate the patience and understanding our customers have shown,” Ms. Rosmarin said.
She acknowledged customers were “let down” and emphasised the importance of keeping them connected in today’s modern world.
She said the data would give them the freedom to “use the network and enjoy all of their streaming, surfing, and other services through the holiday period.”
Customers will have access to the additional data from Nov. 13 until the next few months.
“Very Sorry” For the “Technical Network Issue,” Optus CEO said
The announcement followed Ms. Rosmarin’s formal apology, saying she was “very sorry” for the outage.
“We'll now do a thorough root cause analysis and make sure that we capture all the learnings from what occurred ... and how we can keep this kind of an outage a very rare occurrence,” she said.
“What I can say is that it was a technical network issue and that our teams have worked very hard to get services restored as quickly as they possibly could.”
Optus followed with more information about the network issue in a statement: “In common with major global telecommunication networks, the Optus network is designed with multiple layers of fallback and redundancy. At the heart of this is a modern intelligent router network.”
Despite this, it acknowledged the outage triggered a “cascading failure.”
Investigations Underway
Optus engineers began investigating what triggered the failure.
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said the federal government would also investigate, and it follows the Senate establishing a parliamentary inquiry into how the telco giant communicated with its customers.
Further, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has already begun investigating whether 000 calls on mobiles were affected during the outage.
Optus said it welcomes investigations and intends to cooperate fully.
An Optus service message is displayed on a phone outside an Optus store in Sydney, Australia, on Oct. 5, 2022. (Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)
Backup Systems are “Not Working With Optus,” Experts Says
Despite investigations underway, experts have already concluded that the outage meant the telco giant needed more backup systems.
Telecommunications expert Paul Budde said Optus should have multiple unconnected systems so one could back up the other in the event of a failure, reported SBS news.
“It’s (backup systems) not working with Optus, so in that case, it looks like we need to look into that ... perhaps the government regulators will have to decide if that network is up to scratch for modern times,” Mr. Budde said.
However, Government Services Minister Bill Shorten indicated Optus wasn’t up to speed.
“They’re in a world of pain ... but for me, the real losers here are the 10 million customers,” Mr Shorten told 2GB radio.
“You’ve also got the healthcare system, people making appointments, people needing to communicate. Imagine you’re having to call a triple zero number, and your phone doesn’t work,” he said.
With multiple stakeholders affected, he called for Optus to face up.
“You’ve got to front-foot it. You’ve got to be up there with the people showing a bit of, a bit of embarrassment,” he said.
“So I think Optus need to explain what happened really quickly, and they need to explain to us how it can never happen again, and we'll get to the bottom of that. But this is not just a passing inconvenience,” he said.
He added mobile phones were “fundamental to how this nation functions, and when a business serving 10 million people goes down in those crucial areas, it’s not just another day at the office, and you put out a press release saying, sorry.”
The supplied image of people using a new contactless payment app designed by Optus on a smartphone at a retailer in Sydney, Australia, on November 13, 2014. (AAP Image/Fuel Communications, Optus)
Wide-Scale Efptos Outages Affected Millions
Multiple businesses took to social media to also express their frustration in response to the service shutdown.
For instance, the MidCoast Council in regional New South Wales (NSW) faced challenges in processing payments and receiving calls during the morning.
The council expressed regret for any inconvenience, saying to their customers, “We are presently unable to receive calls or handle payments.”
Furthermore, the council said the outage was unexpected.
Meanwhile, the Berri Hotel in South Australia advised customers that EFTPOS wasn’t available and that they would need to use cash.
“No EFTPOS available. Currently, with the Optus outage, our EFTPOS facilities are down. We have cash facilities available,” the hotel said on Facebook.
A bowling alley in Orange, NSW, was also impacted, and they notified their customers.
“Optus down everywhere, affecting our EFTPOS and card transactions; please bring cash for today or until Optus get sorted out,” the bowling alley said.
