Telstra Triple Zero Calls Still Affected by 'Secondary Issue'

Telstra is continuing efforts to fix a persistent "secondary issue" that impacts its network, preventing some customers from completing calls, including crucial emergency Triple Zero (000) calls. While the telecommunications giant has significantly reduced the occurrence of Triple Zero call errors by about 90 percent, the problem is not entirely resolved.

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Our investigation into the root cause is still underway, but we're confident we've identified a software defect and have been able to isolate it.

The company confirmed that its investigation into the root cause is ongoing, but it has identified a software defect that has been isolated. This issue emerged after Telstra's network experienced a major nationwide outage that disrupted phone calls and internet access for millions of Australians. Although the initial problem causing the widespread outage has been rectified, the secondary issue continues to affect emergency call functionality.

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In these cases, when you call Triple Zero you will receive an error message, and your phone will try to connect to an alternative mobile network. As part of our backup process, we will complete a welfare check where we detect a failed Triple Zero call.

Customers attempting to reach Triple Zero may receive an error message, and their phones will attempt to connect to an alternative mobile network. As a safety measure, Telstra has implemented a welfare check process for any detected failed Triple Zero calls. To date, the company has conducted 395 welfare checks, referring 85 individuals to emergency services for further assistance, a volume higher than initially anticipated.

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You can imagine that lots of computer systems have to synchronise time. It's one of the ways that you authenticate what's going on in the network. And the time synchronisation in those nodes wasn't working as it should. We don't know why yet.

Telstra's chief financial officer, Michael Ackland, previously stated that there was no indication of malicious activity behind the initial outage. He suggested that malfunctioning "nodes" responsible for time synchronization within data centers were likely to blame. These nodes are critical for maintaining time consistency across the entire mobile network, and their disruption caused system-wide issues. The exact reason for the nodes' malfunction remains unknown.

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The volume of welfare checks was higher than we expected, which prompted us to investigate further.