Senior Telstra engineers had been sent home before tech issue caused nationwide outage
A report into a major Telstra network outage revealed that the incident was caused by an incorrect date sent through the system during routine maintenance. The investigation noted that key engineers were on mandatory rest at the time, highlighting a lack of sufficient staffing and oversight.
Why it matters
The outage demonstrates the vulnerability of critical national infrastructure and the importance of robust staffing and oversight protocols in telecommunications.
- 4.05am . First published at 2.37am
shares Share article The two most senior Telstra engineers involved in July’s nationwide outage were on a mandatory stand-down to rest when the telco’s network was brought to its knees, a report has revealed.
In a statement, chief executive Vicki Brady said the network fell short of what its users expect from it after it was also confirmed that an incorrect date that circulated through parts of its mobile network was the cause of the outage.
Telstra has revealed the cause of its massive network outage in July. A Current Affair
“It was an outage that should not have happened,” Brady said.
The report into the incident found two primary network time protocols (NTP) engineers involved in the planned shutdown were on a “mandatory standdown” when the outage was detected.
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