URGENT UPDATE: A significant outage affecting emergency service calls has struck Optus, with over 14,000 customers impacted after vandals cut a crucial fibre line. The incident occurred in the Frankston and Mornington Peninsula areas, southeast of Melbourne, leaving many unable to reach emergency assistance.
Optus spokeswoman Jane McNamara confirmed that crews are actively working to restore service, reporting that five of the six affected sites are now back online. She expressed hope that full connectivity will be restored within hours. “Our technicians have been on site since early this morning. We do have photo evidence, and it’s clear that there had been a cut made,” McNamara stated during an interview with ABC Radio Melbourne.
The outage has raised serious concerns, particularly as customers can only contact emergency services if they are within range of another mobile network or can utilize WiFi. As of now, 14,322 services remain disrupted, which poses a critical risk for those needing urgent assistance.
Premier Jacinta Allan has demanded immediate answers regarding the situation. “There are too many people out in the community experiencing an outage that may be impacting their ability to contact emergency services,” she told reporters. This incident marks the fourth major disruption for Optus in recent months, raising alarm in the community about the reliability of emergency communications.
Earlier this month, a scheduled firewall upgrade in South Australia also triggered a communications outage, blocking approximately 600 triple zero calls to emergency services—an event that was later attributed to human error by Optus chief executive Stephen Rue.
The current disruption highlights ongoing issues within the telecommunications sector, with residents expressing frustration and concern. Optus has contacted local police about the vandalism, as the company strives to mitigate the impact on customers and restore vital services swiftly.
Officials are closely monitoring the situation, and updates are expected as crews work around the clock to resolve the outage. As more information becomes available, the community is urged to stay tuned for further developments.
