Australia’s second-largest telco is once again in damage control.
Optus has issued a statement saying it is aware of an issue affecting mobile services for some customers.
“If customers see ‘No Service’ or ‘SOS’ on their device, they are advised to restart their phone, to restore service,” Optus said in a statement.
“We are actively working with our partner Ericsson and have noticed a significant decline in the number of customers impacted.”
The ABC has contacted Ericsson for comment.
Some Optus phones are showing “SOS”. (ABC News)
The ABC understands 220,000 customers were initially affected by the outage earlier today, but that number has fallen to 115,000 customers.Â
It is unclear how the 105,000 customers’ coverage was restored, as an Optus spokesperson could not confirm if customers restarting their phones resolved the “issue”.
Optus said customers were currently able to make emergency calls to Triple Zero (000).
The company continues to investigate the outage as it is not clear what caused it.
It comes a month after another Optus executive was shown the door.
Optus chief technology officer Tony Baird will leave the telco.
In a media release published January 8, the telco said the executive “will leave Optus following a transition period, with experienced telecommunications executive Sri Amirthalingam appointed as his successor”.
Mr Baird will work closely with Mr Amirthalingam during the transition period “to ensure continuity of leadership across our Networks division,” the Optus media release said.
It is unclear when Mr Baird will officially exit from Optus.
Other high-profile departures from Optus’s technology leadership ranks include chief information officer Mark Potter.
John McInerney was appointed as the incoming chief information officer (CIO) and joined Optus in November 2025.