Broadband News

Sun, 28th Sep 2025

Optus hit with fresh Triple Zero outage

Optus has confirmed that it has suffered another Triple Zero outage, with NSW customers affected on Sunday.

Source: SMH

Optus investigates more failed triple-0 calls in NSW outage

Embattled telco Optus has apologised for a network outage that led to nine failed triple-0 calls near Wollongong on the NSW south coast over the weekend.

Source: ABC News

Thu, 25th Sep 2025

The emails that reveal how Optus downplayed the Triple Zero disaster

It began with what should have been a routine upgrade but the result was catastrophic. Within hours, three people were dead.

Source: SMH

Optus handed $100M penalty on unconscionable conduct

The Federal Court has agreed to impose a $100 million penalty on Optus after engaging in unconscionable conduct when selling mobile phones and contracts to hundreds of Australians.

Source: ARN

Wed, 24th Sep 2025

Optus says traffic not diverted away from firewall before upgrade

A firewall upgrade at Optus that caused Triple Zero calls to fail for 13 hours did not follow internal traffic routing guidance and processes.

Source: iTnews Australia

Optus CEO to keep job as human error blamed for Triple Zero failure

Stephen Rue says that human error by staff at home and abroad was responsible for the catastrophic Triple Zero failure that cost at least three lives.

Source: SMH

Tue, 23rd Sep 2025

ACMA proposes digital ID for prepaid mobile SIM verification

Australian telcos could soon accept Digital ID to verify the identity of prepaid mobile phone users under a proposal floated by the Australian Communications Media Authority.

Source: iTnews Australia

Mon, 22nd Sep 2025

Optus accused of low-effort, "inaccurate" outage notifications

Optus initially characterised its Triple Zero outage in emails to government officials on Thursday afternoon as impacting just 10 calls, with the regulator labelling communication from the telco as “pretty perfunctory”.

Source: iTnews Australia

Firewall upgrade behind Optus Triple Zero failure

Optus has cited a firewall upgrade as the reason why Triple Zero calls made from South Australia, the Northern Territory and Western Australia failed to connect to emergency services last week.

Source: ARN

Albanese says he’d be surprised if Optus boss wasn’t considering his future

The prime minister says Optus hasn’t fulfilled its Triple Zero obligations, while Communications Minister Anika Wells says the telco “perpetuated an enormous failure on the Australian people”.

Source: SMH

Sun, 21st Sep 2025

Optus to face ‘significant consequences’ over fatal outage

The Communications Minister says the telco “perpetuated an enormous failure on the Australian people”, while the Prime Minister has also weighed in.

Source: SMH

Optus initiates change freeze on "network system"

Optus CEO Stephen Rue has placed “an immediate halt to further changes in our network system”, pending a review and updates to its change processes.

Source: iTnews Australia

Optus' Triple Zero failure "unlikely" to have contributed to baby's death

An Optus network failure is now considered “unlikely” to have "contributed" to the death of an eight-week-old baby in South Australia, the state’s policy agency said.

Source: iTnews Australia

Sat, 20th Sep 2025

Optus firewall upgrade behind 13-hour Triple Zero outage

Optus CEO Stephen Rue said that a “regular” firewall upgrade at 12.30am on Thursday caused Triple Zero calls on the network to fail for 13 hours, before it appears the change was rolled back.

Source: iTnews Australia

Fri, 19th Sep 2025

Optus network failure impacts Triple Zero calls

Optus has revealed a network failure impacted its ability to carry Triple Zero calls in three states and territories on Thursday, with at least three deaths linked to the incident.

Source: iTnews Australia

Thu, 18th Sep 2025

Why Apple’s new phone is eSIM only, and what it means for you

Apple executives on why the time is right to break away from the little plastic squares we carry over from phone to phone.

Source: SMH

Sat, 13th Sep 2025

Today, the NBN is getting a huge upgrade. Here’s what you need to know

Download and upload speeds are about to skyrocket, though not for everyone.

Source: SMH

Mon, 08th Sep 2025

Vocus launches business-focused MVNO

Vocus has launched a business-focused mobile virtual network operator brand, Vocus Mobile, that utilises Optus’ 4G and 5G networks.

Source: ARN

Fri, 05th Sep 2025

Cert authority issued multiple rogue TLS credentials for Cloudflare DNS

Rogue digital certificates vouching for the authenticity of a crucial piece of Internet infrastructure were issued in error during internal testing by a third-party authority, and missed by network security company Cloudflare.

Source: iTnews Australia

Thu, 04th Sep 2025

Atlassian bets on AI browsers

Atlassian will acquire New York-based startup The Browser Company for US$610 million (A$936 million) in cash, moving into the fast‑crowding market for AI‑driven browsers.

Source: iTnews Australia

Telstra sells international wholesale assets to iBASIS

Telstra has signed an asset sale and purchase agreement with multinational communications provider iBASIS to offload its International division’s wholesale voice, mobile, and messaging customer contracts.

Source: ARN

Mon, 01st Sep 2025

SBS plans networking overhaul of broadcast backbone

SBS has embarked on a three-year program to uplift the networking infrastructure underpinning its broadcasting operations.

Source: iTnews Australia

Fri, 29th Aug 2025

Zero-click Apple and WhatsApp bug combo used to drop gov spyware

Details have emerged from Meta's encrypted communications app WhatsApp on recent vulnerabilities that appear to have been used to deploy spyware from an unnamed government, without user interaction.

Source: iTnews Australia

Thu, 28th Aug 2025

TPG reports profitable half-year results following Optus MOCN agreement

TPG Telecom has reported a profitable first half of its 2025 financial year, with service revenue ticking up 2.2 per cent to $2.06 billion.

Source: ARN

Wed, 27th Aug 2025

Exetel's $695K fine shows why you can't rely on SMS-based security

When you read that Exetel has just been fined nearly $700,000 for failing to protect Australians against SIM swap fraud, it’s hard not to feel frustrated - and frankly, angry. Once again, a telco’s sloppy validation procedures have handed criminals the keys to someone’s digital life.

Source: iTWire

Tue, 26th Aug 2025

Exetel fined $694k over system 'vulnerability' for mobile number porting

Exetel has been penalised $694,000 after scammers were able to port mobile numbers to the telco and use them to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from bank accounts.

Source: iTnews Australia

Mon, 25th Aug 2025

Optus appoints new chairman as O'Sullivan departs

Australia's second largest telco Optus, a subsidiary of Singtel, has appointed John Arthur as its new chairman with immediate effect, after incumbent Paul O'Sullivan chose to step down after a decade in the role.

Source: iTWire

Scams, outages, rip-offs: Clampdown on misbehaving telcos

Optus, TPG and Telstra face sharper scrutiny and fines up to 40 times higher than the current maximums after a bruising period for the sector.

Source: SMH

Aussie Broadband delivers almost $1.2B in group revenue for FY25

Aussie Broadband has capped its double-digit growth in group revenue and broadband connections, with a newly minted six-year exclusive wholesale partnership with More Telecom.

Source: ARN

Tue, 19th Aug 2025

Cyber attack exposes details of more than 200,000 iinet customers

A list of about 280,000 active email addresses and roughly 20,000 active landline phone numbers have been extracted from iiNet's order management system.

Source: ABC News