Optus Outage Sparks Concern, Recalls Past Tragedy

Australian telecommunications company Optus experienced a service outage affecting around 14,000 users near Melbourne, just two months after a similar disruption allegedly led to four deaths. The outage, caused by vandalism, was resolved by late morning, with assurances that emergency services were not further impacted.

Australian telecommunications giant Optus suffered a significant service disruption on Wednesday, which impacted approximately 14,000 users near Melbourne. This follows a similar incident two months ago that purportedly hindered emergency call responses and contributed to four deaths.

Initially, Optus, owned by Singapore Telecommunications, cautioned that the outage might interfere with emergency call capabilities. However, the company later clarified that no failed emergency calls were reported. They advised customers to connect through another mobile network or via WiFi to access emergency services.

Following an investigation, SingTel revealed the outage resulted from vandals cutting a fibre optic cable on the Mornington Peninsula, south of Melbourne. The services were successfully restored by 11:20 a.m. local time on Wednesday.

(With inputs from agencies.)