Telstra Nationwide Mobile Outage Lasts Several Hours

Telstra suffered a nationwide mobile network outage Wednesday morning that lasted several hours and cut service for millions of customers, including those trying to reach triple zero emergency services. The failure marked the first major disruption since the carrier gained subscribers from Optus and Vodafone Australia after their earlier network problems.

Communications Minister Anika Wells said Telstra should make compensation claims straightforward for affected customers.

At a Friday press conference, chief executive Vicki Brady apologized for the impact. Chief financial officer Michael Ackland said customers can seek compensation through existing complaint channels. The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network encouraged affected customers to document financial losses and contact Telstra directly.

Telstra charges $74 a month for its 50GB mobile plan, $14 more than Optus offers for a comparable product. A recent ruling by the Australian Communications and Media Authority changed how mobile signal coverage is measured for official maps. Telstra's reported coverage area decreased by approximately one million square kilometers under the new thresholds.

Omkar Joshi, chief investment officer at Opal Capital Management, said the outage reduces Telstra's ability to justify premium pricing when service delivery is affected.