Optus has warned thousands of customers they may be unable to contact triple-zero ‘for some time’ following an outage in northern New South Wales.
Technicians are on the scene after a fibre break affected signals in the Hunter region including areas surrounding Port Stephens and Maitland on Wednesday.
‘Mobile voice and mobile data services are impacted. The ability to connect to Triple Zero may be impacted for some,’ it told customers.
‘We apologise to impacted customers and will continue to provide regular updates.’
Hunter MP Dan Repacholi shared news of the outage to residents on social media, adding overlapping Telstra coverage should allow emergency calls to go through.
‘I’ll keep an eye on it and let you know as soon as service is restored,’ he wrote on Facebook.
‘If you’re affected, hang tight and maybe check in with neighbours who might be having trouble connecting too.’
It comes as a troubling time for the provider, which has faced sustained criticism since its triple-zero networks experienced a 14-hour outage in September.
Optus has warned residents in parts of the Hunter region they may be unable to contact triple-zero for ‘some time’ following an outage
Optus has faced sustained criticism over its handling of a triple-zero network outage in September, with senior leadership fronting a Senate inquiry on Monday
The telco’s senior leadership fronted a Senate inquiry this week over the outage, which prevented more than 600 customers from making emergency calls.
Three customers died after being unable to make emergency calls during the outage.
‘Firstly, let me say on behalf of Optus, the Board, the executive team, and the thousands of people across Australia who work at Optus, what happened on 18 September is unacceptable,’ chief executive Stephen Rue said on Monday.
‘As the CEO, I am accountable for Optus’ failings, and I am deeply sorry. We are all deeply sorry.
‘The tragic deaths of people during this outage will stay with us as individuals and as a company as we investigate the incident and build on our response while progressing a sweeping transformation of Optus.’
More to follow.
