About 60,000 users still hit by Singtel-owned Optus’ mobile service outage

[SINGAPORE] After several hours of mobile service disruptions on Monday (Feb 9), the majority of Optus customers have restored their services while some 60,000 users remain affected.

It was reported earlier that 220,000 customers were initially affected by the outage, but the number fell to 115,000. Optus, a subsidiary of telco giant Singtel , was also said to be unsure about what caused the outage.

In the latest statement, an Optus spokesperson said: “We have seen a further significant reduction in impacted customers, around 60,000 remain, with the majority of customers already having restored services after restarting their phones.”

The spokesperson noted that it is aware of a software issue that has been impacting mobile services for some customers. It advised customers to restart their phone to restore service if they see “No Service” or “SOS” on their devices.

The Optus spokesperson added that customers were, however, able to make emergency calls.

Australian news outlet Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported earlier that Optus was working with its partner Ericsson and had “noticed a significant decline in the number of customers impacted”.

Monday’s outage came on the heels of a technical failure last September, which lasted almost 14 hours and resulted in the deaths of two people, said an independent report prepared for the company’s board in December.

The two had attempted to make emergency calls during the technical failure, which disrupted those calls. More than 600 people were unable to reach the police, the fire department and ambulance services.

In an interview with ABC released on Oct 6, 2025, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong expressed his condolences over the deaths.

He said in the same interview: “As far as Singapore is concerned, while we may be a shareholder through Temasek, we have always operated on a very clear cardinal principle – that we do not get involved in commercial operations. We do not direct commercial matters.”

In a media briefing in November, Singtel’s group chief executive Yuen Kuan Moon acknowledged that Optus would need to rebuild trust with customers – particularly after the “triple-zero incident”.

Triple zero (000) is Australia’s primary, free emergency telephone number for police, fire, or ambulance services, available round the clock from any phone. 

Yuen had said then that the Optus board was “fully behind” the telco’s management in accelerating the transformation, focusing on risk management and improving resiliency.

“This is something that we continue to do and emphasise, because we believe Optus continues to be a very important service provider in Australia,” he had said, noting that Optus supported 10 million mobile customers in the country.

Shares of Singtel ended Monday 1.3 per cent or S$0.06 higher at S$4.78.