Life turned upside-down for millions of Australians on Wednesday (Nov 8) as the country’s second-biggest telecom network Optus suffered a major outage.’

The disruption in Optus networks impacted as many as 10 million people in the country, with health, financial and transportation sectors also getting severely impacted.

Around 40 per cent of Australia’s population couldn’t use emergency services via helpline numbers. Local media reported that train services derailed in Victoria state, with some hospitals also losing access to internal communication.

The disruption also impacted other internet providers backed by Optus, like Amaysim, Aussie Broadband and Moose Mobile.

<h2>Services restored now</h2>

The outage was reported first at 4:05 am local time and initially attributed to a “deep fault” within the Optus network by Australia’s federal communications minister Michelle Rowland.

Watch:&nbsp;From floods to fires: Australia's growing climate crisis

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The company at 5:30 in the evening said the services had been restored.

It must be noted that the outage comes just months after Optus suffered a major data breach, that saw details of its 9.8 million customers go online, including passport, driver’s license and national health care identification numbers in a hack that was discovered in late September.

<h2>Cyber attack ruled out</h2>

Optus chief executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin ruled out a cyberattack and clarified outage was not because of problems with Optus software.

“It is highly unlikely [that the problem started within the software in Optus networks], our systems are actually very stable... This is a very, very rare occurrence,” she said in an interview with ABC Radio.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/india-news/australia-orders-ex-indian-envoy-to-pay-hefty-compensation-to-former-help-for-alleged-exploitation-655667">Also read:&nbsp;Australia orders ex-Indian envoy to pay hefty compensation to former domestic help for alleged exploitation</a>

“We are working really hard to get it up and running as soon as we possibly can,” she said, six hours after the outage.

<h2>Debate about telecom security</h2>

The outage sparked a debate around the security of Australia’s telecommunications network, a territory considered highly sensitive worldwide.

Optus is owned by Singapore Telecommunications or Singtel, a major telecom provider in Singapore.

“Maybe this incident will cause us to have a closer look at how we want to run this critical national infrastructure across multiple private companies,” Bill Corcoran, an Australian Research Council Future Fellow at Monash University told Reuters.

(With inputs from agencies)

Life turned upside-down for millions of Australians on Wednesday (Nov 8) as the country’s second-biggest telecom network Optus suffered a major outage.’ The disruption in Optus networks impacted as many as 10 million people in the country, with health, financial and transportation sectors also getting severely impacted.

Life turned upside-down for millions of Australians on Wednesday (Nov 8) as the country’s second-biggest telecom network Optus suffered a major outage.’ The disruption in Optus networks impacted as many as 10 million people in the country, with health, financial and transportation sectors also getting severely impacted. Around 40 per cent of Australia’s population couldn’t use emergency services via helpline numbers. Local media reported that train services derailed in Victoria state, with some hospitals also losing access to internal communication. The disruption also impacted other internet providers backed by Optus, like Amaysim, Aussie Broadband and Moose Mobile. Services restored now The outage was reported first at 4:05 am local time and initially attributed to a “deep fault” within the Optus network by Australia’s federal communications minister Michelle Rowland. Watch: From floods to fires: Australia's growing climate crisis × The company at 5:30 in the evening said the services had been restored. It must be noted that the outage comes just months after Optus suffered a major data breach, that saw details of its 9.8 million customers go online, including passport, driver’s license and national health care identification numbers in a hack that was discovered in late September. Cyber attack ruled out Optus chief executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin ruled out a cyberattack and clarified outage was not because of problems with Optus software. “It is highly unlikely [that the problem started within the software in Optus networks], our systems are actually very stable... This is a very, very rare occurrence,” she said in an interview with ABC Radio. Also read: Australia orders ex-Indian envoy to pay hefty compensation to former domestic help for alleged exploitation “We are working really hard to get it up and running as soon as we possibly can,” she said, six hours after the outage. Debate about telecom security The outage sparked a debate around the security of Australia’s telecommunications network, a territory considered highly sensitive worldwide. Optus is owned by Singapore Telecommunications or Singtel, a major telecom provider in Singapore. “Maybe this incident will cause us to have a closer look at how we want to run this critical national infrastructure across multiple private companies,” Bill Corcoran, an Australian Research Council Future Fellow at Monash University told Reuters. (With inputs from agencies)

Health, emergency, financial services hit in Australia as telecom giant Optus suffers outage, now restored

People in Bengaluru may face call drops and disruption in internet services as the local municipal body and telecom players are at loggerheads over payment issues.

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has ordered to cut telecom cables laid over the ground, citing them to be non-compliant with existing norms, and has demanded fees from companies to lay them underground.

However, telecom service providers said the cables were laid overhead temporarily due to road construction work and they have already paid the fees for laying them under the ground.

A BBMP official told PTI that it was disconnecting only those optical fibre cables which were unauthorised.

"We have incurred huge financial losses because of the unauthorised cables. Several times we had warned the telecom companies to get the cables regularised and should be laid in as per regulations but they ignored our warnings. We were left with no option but to disconnect them," the officer said.

He added that telecom companies still have the chance to disclose the cables they have laid and get them regularised by paying the prescribed fees.

The officer said most of the cables were laid overhead and were dangling from trees, which had caused many accidents in the past.

Meanwhile, telecom industry body COAI said they were authorised temporarily to lay cables aerially as road construction work was going on that frequently damaged cables and they have already paid fees for laying them underground.

"BBMP is demanding the right of way charges again to lay telecom cables underground. We have already paid fees and the cables were laid overground temporarily after permission from BBMP.

"We asked them to put the order on hold and give us time to put them underground as cable cut will lead to disruption in services which is already on red alert after terror attack in Sri Lanka," COAI Director General Rajan S Mathews said.

The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has approached Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan over the issue.

"After telecom secretary's intervention, we met Karnataka State Chief Secretary along with representatives from Reliance Jio, Airtel and Vodafone Idea.

"The chief secretary has asked BBMP to resolve the matter. We will be meeting BBMP commissioner on Tuesday and hope the matter will be resolved amicably," Mathews said.&nbsp;

People in Bengaluru may face call drops and disruption in internet services as the local municipal body and telecom players are at loggerheads over payment issues.

People in Bengaluru may face call drops and disruption in internet services as the local municipal body and telecom players are at loggerheads over payment issues. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has ordered to cut telecom cables laid over the ground, citing them to be non-compliant with existing norms, and has demanded fees from companies to lay them underground. However, telecom service providers said the cables were laid overhead temporarily due to road construction work and they have already paid the fees for laying them under the ground. A BBMP official told PTI that it was disconnecting only those optical fibre cables which were unauthorised. "We have incurred huge financial losses because of the unauthorised cables. Several times we had warned the telecom companies to get the cables regularised and should be laid in as per regulations but they ignored our warnings. We were left with no option but to disconnect them," the officer said. He added that telecom companies still have the chance to disclose the cables they have laid and get them regularised by paying the prescribed fees. The officer said most of the cables were laid overhead and were dangling from trees, which had caused many accidents in the past. Meanwhile, telecom industry body COAI said they were authorised temporarily to lay cables aerially as road construction work was going on that frequently damaged cables and they have already paid fees for laying them underground. "BBMP is demanding the right of way charges again to lay telecom cables underground. We have already paid fees and the cables were laid overground temporarily after permission from BBMP. "We asked them to put the order on hold and give us time to put them underground as cable cut will lead to disruption in services which is already on red alert after terror attack in Sri Lanka," COAI Director General Rajan S Mathews said. The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has approached Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan over the issue. "After telecom secretary's intervention, we met Karnataka State Chief Secretary along with representatives from Reliance Jio, Airtel and Vodafone Idea. "The chief secretary has asked BBMP to resolve the matter. We will be meeting BBMP commissioner on Tuesday and hope the matter will be resolved amicably," Mathews said.

Bengaluru may face disruption in telecom services as municipal body, industry spar over payments

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