Singtel-owned Optus outage in Australia: 35,000 customers still affected, advised to restart phones
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Optus is contacting those still affected via e-mail with instructions to restart their devices.
PHOTO: REUTERS
SINGAPORE – Some 35,000 customers of Singtel-owned Optus still do not have mobile service in Australia on Feb 10, with the telco saying that it is contacting them by e-mail to restart their devices.
On Feb 9, 120,000 users of the telco, Australia’s second-largest, were i mpacted by a software issue that left them without mobile service
In a media reply on Feb 10, an Optus spokesperson said that the telco is “continuing to see a reduction in the number of mobile customers impacted by a software issue”.
Calls to Triple Zero – Australia’s emergency hotline – had been available at all times during this disruption, the spokesperson added.
The telco had on Feb 9 advised affected customers to restart their devices if they see a “no service” or “SOS” message on their phones.
The telco said on Feb 10 it has identified the remaining affected customers who have yet to restart their devices, and is contacting them via e-mail with instructions to reboot their phones.
“We again sincerely apologise to customers,” said the spokesperson.
The latest outage occurred a few months after a technical failure on Sept 18, 2025, when more than 600 calls to Australia’s emergency hotline were disrupted.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the telecoms company had “let down the nation” and the outage was an “unacceptable failure”.
The telco suffered another service outage which impacted 14,000 users on Nov 26, 2025. Investigations showed that the outage was caused by vandals who had cut a fibre cable.
