{"id":788407,"date":"2026-07-09T04:13:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T04:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/788407\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T04:13:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T04:13:11","slug":"telstra-mobile-network-outage-compensation-question-posed-as-telstra-deals-with-outage-fallout-commuter-chaos-as-train-shutdown-continues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/788407\/","title":{"rendered":"Telstra mobile network outage: Compensation question posed as Telstra deals with outage fallout; Commuter chaos as train shutdown continues"},"content":{"rendered":"

South Australia Police say they are not aware of any death linked to the Telstra<\/a> network outage yesterday, after a state senator said her office had received a report of a fatality.<\/p>\n

South Australian<\/a> Senator Kerrynne Liddle said her office had been told an older resident of the state had died after being unable to contact Triple Zero.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A SAPOL comment underneath the Facebook post of the senator disputed reports of a death during the Telstra outage.\u00a0Facebook<\/p>\n

\u201cMy office has received a report of a tragic death following an apparent failure to connect to Triple Zero during a life-or-death emergency amid Telstra\u2019s nationwide outage today,\u201d Liddle said in a post on Facebook.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis death of an elderly South Australian represents a devastating failure for their family. Our thoughts are with them.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo Australian should ever be unable to connect to Triple Zero when their life depends on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, in the comments under the post, SAPOL wrote that they \u201care not aware of any death in South Australia today as a result of the Telstra nationwide outage.\u201d<\/p>\n

The family had been \u201cadvised to contact SAPOL when they\u2019re ready to talk about their experience\u201d, a spokesperson for Liddle\u2019s office previously told Nine newspapers.<\/p>\n

Nine.com.au has contacted Senator Liddle\u2019s office for comment.<\/p>\n

Opposition leader Angust Taylor backed Liddle\u2019s statement, saying she was passing on \u201cdistressing reports\u201d made to her office.<\/p>\n

New issue \u201990 per cent resolved\u2019<\/p>\n

A new \u201csecondary issue\u201d was identified at about 9.30pm overnight, several hours after the telco said its original nationwide outage, caused by an issue with timekeeping nodes in Telstra data centres, had been fixed.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The new issue was identified at about 9.30pm overnight and has been \u201990 per cent\u2019 fixed.\u00a0The Age<\/p>\n

This new issue continued to affect Triple Zero calls, but this morning, Telstra said, matters were mostly resolved.<\/p>\n

\u201cOvernight, our team have made good progress reducing the occurrence of the subsequent Triple Zero calling error by approx. 90 per cent and will continuing (sic) work to eliminate this issue entirely,\u201d the company said in an update at about 6.30am AEST today.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur welfare checks process remains in place, and we continue to advise customers who experience the issue to wait for the call to be connected via an alternative network or recall using a different phone.\u201d<\/p>\n

At 10am, the telco issued another statement which potentially indicated issues on the network remained.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you experience any issues calling Triple Zero, please immediately retry your call,\u201d the update read.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have seen good success of calls connecting on retry.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Telstra in a previous statement advised anybody who received an error message while making an emergency call, to wait 90 seconds and then try again.<\/p>\n

Multiple reports have emerged of people claiming they were unable to reach emergency services through Triple Zero.<\/p>\n

A woman named Lynne spoke to the ABC to say her 95-year-old mother had collapsed at her home in the NSW Hunter region, and was unable to contact Triple Zero through her wearable alarm.<\/p>\n

Lynne luckily found her mother unharmed if distressed, but said it could have been a very different situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was pressing her… alarm to get help and without Telstra or without it piggybacking to another provider to carry that emergency through, it could have been life-and-death for her,\u201d Lynne said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman Cynthia Gebert flagged the possibility of compensation for businesses which were affected by yesterday\u2019s outage.<\/p>\n

Many EFTPOS payment services linked to Telstra went offline during the incident, while other owners and managers were unable to contact people for necessary jobs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve only\u00a0seen a small number (of complaints) at this point,\u00a0so only about 30 received yesterday,\u201d Gebert told Today.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut obviously, there\u2019ll be more that\u00a0have come in overnight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gebert said the complaints received would be assessed on a case-by-case basis.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would imagine there\u2019d be a wide range\u00a0of possible outcomes as a result of\u00a0that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome may involve compensation,\u00a0but we do need to look at the\u00a0individual circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gebert praised Telstra for its regular updates on the outage, but said they needed to \u201cget to the bottom\u201d of what happened and ensure it couldn\u2019t happen again.<\/p>\n

Commuter chaos as train shutdown continues<\/p>\n

V\/Line trains in regional Victoria<\/a> have started up again after more than 24 hours in fuill shutdown.<\/p>\n

\u201cV\/Line will gradually resume services from midday after extensive testing of train radio communications following the Telstra outage,\u201d the operator said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Australian Rail Track Corporation has this morning advised V\/Line and other national rail operators using the National Train Communications System (NTCS) that following testing it is safe to begin operating trains.\u201d<\/p>\n

Passenger services will be gradually phased back in ahead of the afternoon peak hour.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, passengers are advised some service delays may still be experienced as the network returns to its normal timetable,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n

\u201cPassengers are advised to continue to check the V\/Line website and app for up-to-date information as services are progressively restored.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

V\/Line trains are up and running again at Southern Cross Railway Station in Melbourne.\u00a0Ollie Haig<\/p>\n

A photo from Southern Cross station showed commuters gladly welcoming the trains pulling up alongside the platforms.<\/p>\n

V\/Line chief executive William Tieppo earlier said it was possible V\/Line could seek compensation from Telstra, noting the added expense of bus replacements, with 140 buses deployed yesterday and 100 today.<\/p>\n

\u201cA disruption of this scale has been unprecedented for us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In NSW<\/a>, trains have resumed services on the previously-closed Hunter and Southern Highlands lines.<\/p>\n

Buses may continue to replace some trains and passengers are urged to allow extra travel time.<\/p>\n

The ARTC said in a statement rail services were \u201cprogressively returning\u201d across affected networks.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven the size and complexity of Australia\u2019s national rail network, recovery will take time and services will resume in a controlled and phased manner as communications are confirmed and all operational safety checks are completed,\u201d a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPassenger services will remain paused until the network is fully operational.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ARTC also emphasised the fault had been with the Telstra outage, rather than any equipment failure or misjudgement on the ground.<\/p>\n

Calls for a new Triple Zero system<\/p>\n

Tech expert Trevor Long said this morning the government needed to acknowledge the current telecommunications system was out of date.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need the government to go: \u2018we have to start again and create a new system for 2026\u2019,\u201d he told Today.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have Wi-Fi at home. We have\u00a0Wi-Fi in public places. We should\u00a0be able to contact 000 using\u00a0WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger,\u00a0FaceTime.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should be able to use\u00a0any network Starlink satellites.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u00a0should be able to use anything to\u00a0call 000, and that\u2019s what the\u00a0government should be focusing on.\u00a0We need a modern 000 that outlasts\u00a0the mobile networks.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the networks, he said, should take what happened to Telstra as a warning.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou look at\u00a0these systems and you go, is there\u00a0a backup for everything? And I\u00a0think obviously here there wasn\u2019t a\u00a0backup for that situation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said computers encountering an error should be automatically \u201csegregated\u201d from the rest of the network, leaving the majority of connections unaffected.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat will be\u00a0what, frankly, every mobile network\u00a0will now be going, hey, have we got\u00a0this sorted?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause it could\u00a0happen to anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hundreds of emergency calls failed<\/p>\n

A fault in the timekeeping nodes at several Telstra data centres in Sydney<\/a> and Melbourne<\/a> at about 4.30am yesterday sparked a nationwide outage of the Telstra network, with many customers reporting sporadic coverage.<\/p>\n

Many were left with their phones on SOS mode – but even then, the telco said more than 300 emergency calls did not go through during the outage period.<\/p>\n

Telstra chief financial officer Michael Ackland said yesterday afternoon the telco had contacted 333 people for welfare checks after detecting failed calls.<\/p>\n

And 79 people who could not be reached were referred to police<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Telstra chief financial officer Michael Ackland speaks after a major network outage yesterday morning.\u00a0Alexander Darling<\/p>\n

Triple Zero Victoria said in a statement today they continued to receive and respond to calls. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been notified by Telstra of twenty-four calls that experienced difficulty connecting to the Telstra national Triple Zero (000) emergency service,\u201d a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cVictorian Police Communications Liaison Officers located in our communications centres are currently conducting welfare checks with these twenty-four calls as a matter of urgency.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs Telstra has also communicated, we ask the community to not test call 000.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo adverse events have been identified at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Telstra was fined more than $3 million over a previous outage in 2024, and could potentially face multi-million dollar penalties again.<\/p>\n

Scam warning for customers<\/p>\n

Telstra has warned that the occasion of an outage is one ripe for scammers.<\/p>\n

Would-be fraudsters are likely to get in touch with Telstra clients claiming to represent the telco.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve\u00a0seen reports of fraudsters calling customers, claiming to be from\u00a0Telstra\u00a0and trying to take advantage of today\u2019s outage,\u201d Telstra said yesterday.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease be extra vigilant. If you get a call from someone claiming to be from Telstra asking for your details\u00a0in light of\u00a0today\u2019s outage, hang up and call us directly.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Today this morning, Long said emails were also a potential vehicle for scammers.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t trust any email that\u00a0says, you know, \u2018it\u2019s Telstra, click\u00a0this link right now\u2019,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s going\u00a0to be the worst thing you could do\u00a0as a Telstra customer.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo take\u00a0caution for any communication you\u00a0get from Telstra. Before you click\u00a0any links, pick up the phone, ring\u00a0them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"South Australia Police say they are not aware of any death linked to the Telstra network outage yesterday,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":788408,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99],"class_list":["post-788407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=788407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/788408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=788407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=788407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=788407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}