The Optus Network outage has caused a major communications disruption to millions around the country today (Wednesday 8 November 2023).

In NSW, mobile and landline services were impacted, including an impact on calling Triple Zero (000), especially from fixed landlines.

Service restoration is progressing across all domains - Regional and remote service restoration will be concurrent with capital city services.

Community members who are unable to contact emergency services due to the outage are urged to try another device, or Telstra payphones until their service is restored.

Family, friends and neighbours of vulnerable community members are urged to check in on them and alert emergency services if they need assistance.

There are no major disruptions to the operations of NSW Police Force, Rural Fire Service, Fire and Rescue NSW, NSW Ambulance, Transport for NSW or the Department of Education.

Optus customers will not be able to reach the NSW SES on 132500 on mobile phones or landlines until the outage is resolved.

Mobile phones will connect to Triple Zero 000, which people should call for life-threatening situations, provided there is an alternative telecommunications network available.

Service NSW can be reached on 13 77 88. There are likely to be longer customer wait times.

A statement from Optus is included below.

OPTUS STATEMENT: https://www.optus.com.au/content/optus/en/notices/outage.html

We're aware of an issue impacting Optus Mobile, Fixed Internet and Phone services

Latest updates:

Some internet and phone services are gradually being restored.

This may take a few hours for all services to come back online and different services may restore at different sites over that time. No action is required, and services will be automatically restored.

We are aware of some mobile phones having issues connecting to 000. If Optus customers need to call emergency services, we suggest finding a family member or neighbour with an alternative device.

We apologise to customers for the nationwide service outage that has occurred this morning.

We will continue to provide updates as we have information available.