Telstra’s outage exposes Australia’s dangerous dependence on fragile telecom

DDM News

Telstra is currently facing a major service outage that has disrupted mail services and electronic transactions across Australia.

According to Diaspora digital media (DDM) reports, the telecommunications giant first reported issues around 2:00 pm AEST yesterday, when customers began experiencing difficulties logging into their Bigpond and Webmail accounts.

Users also reported that some apps relying on Telstra services were malfunctioning, further amplifying the disruption.

Telstra’s Bigpond email service, launched in the late 1990s, has long been a preferred communication tool for many Australians, particularly businesses and older users.

The outage has, therefore, caused significant inconvenience to both personal and commercial customers across the nation.

Early today, Telstra announced that Telstra Mail services were operational once more, following hours of disruption.

However, the company admitted that some customers, especially those using third-party applications to access their emails, are still encountering problems.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Telstra confirmed that its technical teams are continuing to monitor the situation closely.

The company advised affected users to reset their passwords as a preliminary troubleshooting step.

They also suggested customers should attempt to access their accounts directly through Telstra’s webmail interface instead of using external apps.

Beyond email issues, the outage has had broader impacts, notably disrupting EFTPOS and ATM systems across Australia.

Electronic Funds Transfer at Point Of Sale (EFTPOS) systems are critical for daily retail operations, and any disruption affects both businesses and consumers.

Customers reported being unable to process card payments, withdraw cash, or complete bank transactions at various locations nationwide.

Telstra has urged users needing assistance to contact support teams via phone or through the My Telstra app and official website.

The company emphasized that it is working hard to resolve all remaining issues and restore full services as quickly as possible.

Despite these reassurances, Telstra has not provided a clear timeline for when normal operations will be completely restored.

Historically, Telstra has faced several major outages, with previous incidents causing widespread disruptions to mobile, internet, and banking services.

The scale of the current outage once again raises questions about the resilience of Australia’s telecommunications infrastructure.

For many businesses, especially small enterprises heavily reliant on electronic payments, the interruption has had a direct impact on daily revenue.

Customers have voiced frustration on social media, criticizing Telstra for the frequency and scale of recent technical failures.

Experts suggest that the reliance on a few major service providers makes Australia vulnerable to widespread disruptions when outages occur.

Telstra maintains that its priority is minimizing customer inconvenience and ensuring a robust return to full functionality.

Investigations into the root cause of the incident are ongoing, but no detailed explanation has yet been offered by the company.

The company promised to keep users updated with developments as technical teams continue their efforts.

Meanwhile, businesses and individuals affected by the outage are being encouraged to use alternative payment and communication methods where possible.

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