Telstra outage: triple-zero calls affected by network glitches as regional train services slowly resume
✓Telstra customers are still having trouble calling triple zero on Thursday morning as the telecommunications giant confirmed a secondary issue stemming from Wednesday’s national outage continued to affect services.
Some who tried to call the emergency hotline were receiving an error message before their phones would try to connect to an alternative network, Telstra 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.
The telco earlier recommended callers wait for their phone to connect to another network, or use a different device to make their call.
In a statement early Thursday, Telstra said: “We’re deeply sorry for the impact this issue has had on so many people.”
As of 6.30am on Thursday morning, Telstra said the occurrence of the secondary triple-zero issue had been reduced by 90%.
But the minister for industry, Tim Ayres, told the ABC on Thursday “100% is the only acceptable figure here”.
The telco’s issues have continued to wreak havoc across Australia.
All the trains on Victoria’s regional rail network were still suspended on Thursday morning, up to and including the morning peak travel period.
Telstra’s 4G network has been interfering with the back-up satellite phones used in the trains when the mobile network is unavailable, according to V/Line’s chief executive, William Tieppo.
In a statement, V/Line later said services would “gradually return from midday” Thursday.
“Delays and cancellations may continue across the day as we work to recover the full timetable,” it said.
Regional trains in New South Wales were also interrupted Thursday morning, though services have resumed on the Southern Highlands and Hunter lines.
The communications minister, Anika Wells, said she had not yet heard of any “adverse outcomes” linked to the continuing triple-zero issues as Ayres said there would be a full investigation.
“Communications and digital infrastructure [are] part of the lifeblood of the economy,” he said.
“We’ve got a transparent investigative framework and to apply penalties where it’s necessary.”
Thousands of customers were unable to make calls or access data on Wednesday after a software defect affected Telstra’s systems, the telco said.
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The company made more than 300 welfare checks to people who attempted to dial triple zero during the episode.
Of those, 238 said they didn’t need assistance. The remainder were referred to state and territory police for welfare checks. Six customers said they needed assistance, which was provided immediately.
The Telstra chief executive, Michael Ackland, said on Wednesday the number of calls appeared to be higher than normal.
This suggested some may have been dialling triple zero to check if it worked during the outage, which customers have been urged not to do.
The opposition communications spokesperson, Sarah Henderson, defended her decision to call the emergency line during the outage.
“I accept the criticism, but what I will say is that I am in a unique position holding this government to account,” she told 2GB radio on Thursday.
“Telstra’s network is critical infrastructure, this should simply not be happening.”
Businesses also reported being unable to take customer payments due to interruptions to Eftpos terminals.
The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network’s chief executive, Carol Bennett, told Sky News the outage had caused huge disruptions in people’s lives.
“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.
The telco 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 what the most accurate time is to the nanosecond. A software reset changed the time and synchronisation, which was then passed on to the rest of the Telstra network.
Two deaths were linked to an outage at Optus in September 2025, which lasted almost 14 hours and affected hundreds of calls in four states and territories.
In June, Vodafone customers were left with intermittent reception and data issues across Australia.
New rules were handed down by the Australian Communications and Media Authority in March requiring telcos to publish when an outage started and when it was restored in detail, as well as the cause.
Read the full story at BBC ↗ · The Guardian ↗
Australia's largest telecommunications company experienced a national outage on Wednesday stemming from a software defect in its GPS time-synchronisation server. A secondary issue persisted into Thursday, causing some triple-zero emergency calls to fail initially, though Telstra reported 90% reduction in failures by early Thursday morning. Regional train services across Victoria and New South Wales were suspended because Telstra's 4G network interfered with the trains' backup satellite communication systems. Train services began gradually resuming from midday Thursday. The outage also disrupted business payment terminals. Government officials including the communications minister and industry minister indicated a full investigation would follow, with the minister stating that 100% restoration of triple-zero functionality is the only acceptable outcome. The incident occurred against a backdrop of previous major Australian telecom outages, which prompted new regulatory requirements for carriers to publicly detail outage timing and causes.
Read the full story at BBC ↗ · The Guardian ↗
Telstra customers are still having trouble calling triple zero on Thursday morning as the telecommunications giant confirmed a secondary issue stemming from Wednesday’s national outage continued to affect services.
Some who tried to call the emergency hotline were receiving an error message before their phones would try to connect to an alternative network, Telstra 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.
The telco earlier recommended callers wait for their phone to connect to another network, or use a different device to make their call.
In a statement early Thursday, Telstra said: “We’re deeply sorry for the impact this issue has had on so many people.”
As of 6.30am on Thursday morning, Telstra said the occurrence of the secondary triple-zero issue had been reduced by 90%.
But the minister for industry, Tim Ayres, told the ABC on Thursday “100% is the only acceptable figure here”.
The telco’s issues have continued to wreak havoc across Australia.
All the trains on Victoria’s regional rail network were still suspended on Thursday morning, up to and including the morning peak travel period.
Telstra’s 4G network has been interfering with the back-up satellite phones used in the trains when the mobile network is unavailable, according to V/Line’s chief executive, William Tieppo.
In a statement, V/Line later said services would “gradually return from midday” Thursday.
“Delays and cancellations may continue across the day as we work to recover the full timetable,” it said.
Regional trains in New South Wales were also interrupted Thursday morning, though services have resumed on the Southern Highlands and Hunter lines.
The communications minister, Anika Wells, said she had not yet heard of any “adverse outcomes” linked to the continuing triple-zero issues as Ayres said there would be a full investigation.
“Communications and digital infrastructure [are] part of the lifeblood of the economy,” he said.
“We’ve got a transparent investigative framework and to apply penalties where it’s necessary.”
Thousands of customers were unable to make calls or access data on Wednesday after a software defect affected Telstra’s systems, the telco said.
after newsletter promotion
The company made more than 300 welfare checks to people who attempted to dial triple zero during the episode.
Of those, 238 said they didn’t need assistance. The remainder were referred to state and territory police for welfare checks. Six customers said they needed assistance, which was provided immediately.
The Telstra chief executive, Michael Ackland, said on Wednesday the number of calls appeared to be higher than normal.
This suggested some may have been dialling triple zero to check if it worked during the outage, which customers have been urged not to do.
The opposition communications spokesperson, Sarah Henderson, defended her decision to call the emergency line during the outage.
“I accept the criticism, but what I will say is that I am in a unique position holding this government to account,” she told 2GB radio on Thursday.
“Telstra’s network is critical infrastructure, this should simply not be happening.”
Businesses also reported being unable to take customer payments due to interruptions to Eftpos terminals.
The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network’s chief executive, Carol Bennett, told Sky News the outage had caused huge disruptions in people’s lives.
“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.
The telco 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 what the most accurate time is to the nanosecond. A software reset changed the time and synchronisation, which was then passed on to the rest of the Telstra network.
Two deaths were linked to an outage at Optus in September 2025, which lasted almost 14 hours and affected hundreds of calls in four states and territories.
In June, Vodafone customers were left with intermittent reception and data issues across Australia.
New rules were handed down by the Australian Communications and Media Authority in March requiring telcos to publish when an outage started and when it was restored in detail, as well as the cause.
Read the full story at BBC ↗ · The Guardian ↗
A software defect affecting Telstra's GPS node caused the Wednesday outage by disrupting time synchronisation across the network Some customers calling triple-zero on Thursday morning received error messages before their phones attempted to connect to alternative networks Telstra reduced the occurrence of triple-zero failures by 90% as of 6:30am Thursday All Victoria regional trains were suspended into Thursday morning; NSW regional trains resumed on some lines Telstra's 4G network interference affected backup satellite phones used on trains when the mobile network is unavailable V/Line stated services would gradually return from midday Thursday with potential delays and cancellations continuing Telstra made over 300 welfare checks to people who called triple-zero during the outage; six required immediate assistance 100% is the only acceptable figure for triple-zero functionality restoration Communications and digital infrastructure are part of the lifeblood of the economy There should be some form of recourse to compensate customers and businesses who lost revenue during the outage Telstra's network being critical infrastructure means outages of this nature should not occur
Read the full story at BBC ↗ · The Guardian ↗
- Telstra's outage on Wednesday caused secondary triple-zero calling failures that persisted into Thursday morning, affecting emergency service access across Australia
- Regional train services in Victoria and NSW were disrupted due to Telstra's 4G network interfering with backup satellite phones; services gradually resumed from midday Thursday
- A software defect affecting Telstra's GPS time-synchronisation node triggered the nationwide outage; the company reduced triple-zero issues by 90% by early Thursday but government officials stated only 100% restoration is acceptable
- Businesses experienced payment terminal disruptions; at least six customers who called triple-zero during the outage required immediate assistance
- Two previous Australian telecom outages (Optus in September 2025, Vodafone in June) prompted new regulatory requirements for outage reporting and transparency