Reports surfaced that upwards of 10 million Australians woke up Wednesday morning to internet outages, dysfunctional train networks, and widespread communication issues.

“Internet and calls of millions of Australians affected / down — authorities say they’re investigating possible cyberattack as trains and infrastructure disrupted in Australia,” Insider Paper reports.

It appears Optus, one of Australia’s largest telecommunications companies, experienced one of the biggest outages in the country’s history.

“The outage was first reported at 4am on Wednesday with Optus mobile users saying they are unable to make or receive calls and texts, with the internet network and home broadband also down,” Daily Mail reports.

“Optus users in Brisbane, Perth, Sydney, Melbourne, the ACT, Tasmania and Adelaide have all reported a blackout with the network,” the outlet added.

WATCH:

Per Daily Mail:

Melbourne’s train network also shut down earlier on Wednesday, leaving many commuters stranded.

It’s believed this was a result of the Optus outage. Metro Trains have since confirmed services have resumed but major delays are expected.

Uber prices have also surged as many drivers are forced offline due to the Optus blackout.

Other carriers that use the Optus mobile network like Amaysim, Vaya, Aussie Broadband, Moose Mobile, Coles Mobile, Spintel, Southern Phone and Dodo Mobile are also down.

Melbourne’s Northern Health district said their hospitals’ phone lines had been impacted.

‘All phone lines into Northern Health campuses are currently being affected by an Optus outage,’ they said.

‘This includes phone lines into Northern Hospital Epping, Broadmeadows Hospital, Bundoora Centre, Craigieburn Centre, Kilmore District Hospital, and Victorian Virtual Emergency Department (VVED). We apologise for any inconvenience.’

The telco said it was aware of issues affecting some customers but is yet to explain the system failure.

From NetBlocks:

From The Guardian:

A spokesperson for Optus said the company was aware of the issue affecting mobile and internet customers and was working to identify the cause.

“In case of an emergency, customers can still call 000,” the spokesperson said.

Train services were also interrupted in Melbourne due to the Optus outage, with ongoing delays of up to 45 minutes, and cancellations expected.

Northern Health in Melbourne said all phone lines into its hospitals were affected by the outage.

“This includes phone lines into Northern Hospital Epping, Broadmeadows Hospital, Bundoora Centre, Craigieburn Centre, Kilmore District Hospital, and Victorian Virtual Emergency Department (VVED),” it said in a statement.

The outage has also affected companies that resell Optus services, according to DownDetector, with users reporting issues for Amaysim, Dodo and CatchConnect mobile services.

7News Australia aired this video report:

 

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