Telstra outage: Telco apologises for major time-keeping issue that hit mobiles, trains and triple-zero calls | Telstra

Telstra blamed a problem with its timing server for a massive outage on Wednesday morning that left thousands of mobile customers unable to make calls or access data on the country’s largest network.

The telecommunications company, which powers nearly 25 million mobile services across the country, confirmed the outage on Wednesday, with 90% of services restored by 10 a.m.

Telstra chief financial officer Michael Ackland, who is acting chief executive while Vicki Brady is on leave, said the outage began at 4.30am (AEST) and was an intermittent issue affecting calls and data services.

He said there was no indication that this was the result of malicious activity, but the company did not know exactly what caused the problem.

“The issue affects a number of nodes on our network that keep time on the mobile network,” Ackland told reporters. he said.

“And when those nodes don’t work as expected, which has happened, other parts of the network can be affected, leading to intermittent issues with some mobile calls and data sessions.”

He said the company recognizes that the outage “caused a major disruption to many people’s lives and for that we apologize.”

More than 7,500 customers reported network outage online monitoring platform Downdetector.

All Victoria’s regional train services have been suspended due to radio network problems which the operator said were caused by the Telstra outage.

Victoria V/Line said services were “unable to operate” on Wednesday morning and there was no estimated time for a fix.

Some regional passengers in New South Wales also faced disruptions after two train routes were closed due to an “external telecommunications issue”, which the operator confirmed was a Telstra outage.

Transport NSW said trains were not running between Campbelltown and Moss Vale/Goulburn on the Southern Highlands Line and trains were not running between Newcastle Interchange and Maitland.

Replacement buses were being organised.

Telstra operates the triple zero emergency call system, but it remained available to non-Telstra customers during the outage.

Ackland said the company was performing welfare checks on customers who tried to call triple zero during the outage but had no information as of Wednesday morning.

“We do not believe this issue affects triple zero like other calls,” he said.

“It’s using different network settings, but we’re continuing to investigate every aspect of what might have occurred, where it might have impacted triple zero.”

WA police said the Telstra outage was affecting triple zero calls and advised people to offer support to vulnerable family members.

According to providers CommBank and Tyro, Eftpos systems were also disabled during the outage, impacting taxi payments in NSW and retail environments.

Restoring timekeeping nodes

Telstra said it was in the process of restoring the affected nodes, but Ackland said a network-wide reset would take time.

Customers who are still having trouble searching are encouraged to try again as it may work on the second try.

The affected Telstra data centers are located in Sydney and Melbourne.

“A lot of computer systems need to synchronize time. That’s one of the ways to verify what’s happening on the network, and the time synchronization on those nodes wasn’t working as it should,” Ackland said.

“We don’t know why yet.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the outage was “deeply worrying”.

“This is so devastating to the lives of people across the country,” he said.

“Some people were unaffected, but many were severely disrupted. Telstra is investigating but we are working closely with them.”

Opposition leader Angus Taylor demanded the government “step up to the plate” and explain the outage to Australians.

Taylor called on communications minister Anika Wells to return from leave.

“The government needs to explain what happened here, why this happened, what they are going to do to make sure this is fixed and never happens again,” Taylor said.

The Telstra outage follows problems experienced by fellow telecommunications giants Vodafone and Optus.

In June, Vodafone customers faced intermittent reception and data issues across Australia.

The two deaths were linked to an outage at Optus in September 2025 that lasted almost 14 hours and affected hundreds of calls across four states and territories.

new rules In March, guidance was issued by the Australian Communications and Media Authority requiring telecommunications companies to publish details of when an outage started and was repaired, and why.