The telco earlier recommended callers wait for their phone to connect to another network, or use a different device to make their call.<\/p>\n
Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n In a statement early Thursday, Telstra said: \u201cWe\u2019re deeply sorry for the impact this issue has had on so many people.\u201d<\/p>\n As of 6.30am on Thursday morning, Telstra said the occurrence of the secondary triple-zero issue had been reduced by 90%.<\/p>\n But the minister for industry, Tim Ayres, told the ABC on Thursday \u201c100% is the only acceptable figure here\u201d.<\/p>\n The telco\u2019s issues have continued to wreak havoc across Australia.<\/p>\n All the trains on Victoria\u2019s regional rail network were still suspended on Thursday morning, up to and including the morning peak travel period.<\/p>\n Telstra\u2019s 4G network has been interfering with the back-up satellite phones used in the trains when the mobile network is unavailable, according to V\/Line\u2019s chief executive, William Tieppo.<\/p>\n Services could resume before the afternoon peak, but Tieppo did not commit to a time.<\/p>\n Regional trains in New South Wales were also interrupted Thursday morning, though services have resumed on the Southern Highlands and Hunter lines.<\/p>\n The communications minister, Anika Wells, said she had not yet heard of any \u201cadverse outcomes\u201d linked to the continuing triple-zero issues as Ayres said there would be a full investigation.<\/p>\n \u201cCommunications and digital infrastructure [are] part of the lifeblood of the economy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got a transparent investigative framework and to apply penalties where it\u2019s necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n Thousands of customers were unable to make calls or access data<\/a> on Wednesday after a software defect affected Telstra\u2019s systems, the telco said.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a>Free newsletter | When needed<\/p>\n Sign up to Breaking News Australia<\/p>\n Get the most important news as it breaks<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n The company made more than 300 welfare checks to people who attempted to dial triple zero during the episode.<\/p>\n Of those, 238 said they didn\u2019t need assistance. The remainder were referred to state and territory police for welfare checks. Six customers said they needed assistance, which was provided immediately.<\/p>\n The Telstra chief executive, Michael Ackland, said on Wednesday the number of calls appeared to be higher than normal.<\/p>\n This suggested some may have been dialling triple zero to check if it worked during the outage, which customers have been urged not to do.<\/p>\n The opposition communications spokesperson, Sarah Henderson, defended her decision to call the emergency line during the outage.<\/p>\n \u201cI accept the criticism, but what I will say is that I am in a unique position holding this government to account,\u201d she told 2GB radio on Thursday.<\/p>\n \u201cTelstra\u2019s network is critical infrastructure, this should simply not be happening.\u201d<\/p>\n Businesses also reported being unable to take customer payments due to interruptions to Eftpos terminals.<\/p>\n The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network\u2019s chief executive, Carol Bennett, told Sky News the outage had caused huge disruptions in people\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n \u201cThere certainly needs to be some kind of recourse to compensate customers and businesses who\u2019ve lost a lot when it comes to these outages,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The telco blamed Wednesday\u2019s issues on a software fault that caused the \u201cGPS node\u201d to reset.<\/p>\n This server tells the rest of the organisation\u2019s systems what the most accurate time is to the nanosecond. A software reset changed the time and synchronisation, which was then passed on to the rest of the Telstra network.<\/p>\n Two deaths were linked to an outage at Optus<\/a> in September 2025, which lasted almost 14 hours and affected hundreds of calls in four states and territories.<\/p>\n In June, Vodafone customers were left with intermittent reception and data issues across Australia.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2998.jpg\")
<\/p>\n