According to media reports, the airport in the metropolis of Perth on the west coast was particularly badly affected.Image: keystone
Jul 8, 2026, 5:17 amJul 8, 2026, 5:17 am
A widespread outage in the telecommunications provider Telstra’s mobile network temporarily paralyzed Australia in the morning (local time). In addition to train connections, air traffic as well as emergency calls and payment systems were also affected.
According to media reports, the airport in the metropolis of Perth on the west coast was particularly badly affected.
Hundreds of mining industry workers traveling to remote mine sites on so-called fly-in fly-out (FIFO) flights faced hours-long delays early in the morning. Dozens of planes took off with delays of up to three hours, News.com.au reported.
“Deeply worrying”
Rail traffic was also affected by the disruption. Regional trains in the state of Victoria were completely at a standstill, and connections in other regions were also canceled. “This is deeply worrying and is having a significant impact on the lives of people across the country,” said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Telstra apologized to customers and said the cause was an error in a mobile network time synchronization system. There is no evidence of a cyber attack. Around 90 percent of services had been restored by mid-morning. The government agency ACMA (Australian Communications and Media Authority) launched an investigation. (sda/dpa)