Experts Call for Optus to Explain the Outage Sparked by ‘Software Upgrade’

Optus said routers couldn’t handle ‘information changes’ following a routine software upgrade but experts are calling for a more detailed explanation.

People walk past an Optus store in Sydney, Australia, on Oct. 5, 2022. Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

A telco expert said Optus still hasn’t fully explained what caused the 14-hour nationwide outage that impacted millions of Australians and 400,000 businesses.

Optus said a software upgrade caused the outage that stopped millions of Australians, 400,000 businesses and emergency services from calling or taking card payments on Nov. 8.