Optus network goes offline

If you’re with the Optus network and had trouble using your mobile yesterday -you weren’t alone… A worker accidentally severed a fibre optic cable yesterday – collapsing the Optus network.

If you’re with the Optus network and had trouble using your mobile yesterday – you weren’t alone… A worker accidentally severed a fibre optic cable at 7:53am – collapsing the Optus network.

The worker was operating a backhoe at a building site in Molendinar on the Gold Coast when he severed the cable, throwing the Queensland network into chaos. Internet access, ATMs, EFTPOS as well as mobile services were all affected.

Brisbane airport was the scene of chaos, as 1000s of customers waited for their tickets and luggage to be checked manually.

Optus attempted to rectify the fault but it was well past midday before service was restored.

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said she was alarmed by the outages, which spread to northern NSW.

“Queenslanders and Australians are entitled to expect a telecommunications network that can withstand one cable cut,” she said.

“I don’t know the circumstances around that cut, but frankly, there ought to be a backup system put in place.

“We’ve seen chaos at airports, we’ve seen people unable to communicate with each other.

“This is the modern world; modern Australia needs a communications system that can withstand one cut in a cable without disrupting organisations around the state.”

Source: The Australian