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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Business
Amy Remeikis, Daisy Dumas and Sarah Basford Canales

Optus outage: network offers free data to customers as it faces Senate inquiry and government review

Optus mobile and internet service went down across Australia for 14 hours on Thursday. The communications minister, Michelle Rowland, said the next steps of its review into the network outage will be announced at a later date.
Optus mobile and internet service went down across Australia for 14 hours on Thursday. The communications minister, Michelle Rowland, said the next steps of the review into the network outage will be announced at a later date. Photograph: David Gray/AFP/Getty Images

Optus is scrambling to regain public support after Wednesday’s 14-hour outage by offering “eligible” customers a free data pack, as it faces a Senate inquiry and separate government review.

The telco giant’s network dropped out from about 4am on Wednesday, leaving millions of customers including hospitals, schools, financial institutions and government departments unable to make or receive calls for at least nine hours.

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