Telstra chief executive Vicki Brady has deflected questions over whether senior managers should have their bonuses cut after returning from leave to confront the fallout from this week’s nationwide network outage.
Ms Brady said Telstra had found no evidence that earlier job cuts contributed to the failure, which disrupted mobile services for millions of Australians, affected public transport networks and prevented some small businesses from processing payments.
She also said the telco had found no evidence linking the outage to the death of an elderly woman in South Australia.
Ms Brady said Telstra’s mobile network, including triple-0 connectivity, had been fully restored and repeatedly apologised for the disruption, which began about 4.30am on Wednesday and continued into Thursday.
“There is no indication that any restructuring of jobs has impacted on this particular issue, she said. “As I said, we will complete the investigation and any of those lessons out of that. We will be very transparent and are committed to implementing changes that might be needed.”
Ms Brady added that the company allocates significant amounts of money into network security and resilience and suggested the fault was down to faulty data centre equipment, rather than human error, or a lack of investment.
The telco boss also deflected questions about whether senior management should face pay cuts for an outage that damaged thousands of small businesses.
“We again have very clear processes and governance when it comes to bonuses and remuneration,” she said. “That process will happen, and it will be overseen by our board.”
Ms Brady said she spoke to both Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Communications Minister Anika Wells on Friday morning to update them on the telco’s investigations into the outage.
Telstra denies link to South Australian death
Chief financial officer Michael Ackland also said Telstra had found no call records indicating that a South Australian household’s triple-0 call failed to connect because of the outage.
“We’ve conducted a detailed review of our network records using the information provided to us, as well as a number of services associated with the same [caller’s] address,” said Mr Ackland.
“To date, we can see no record of calls from those numbers accessing Telstra’s mobile network to call triple-0, and more broadly, no record of any calls from those numbers to the triple zero class.”
South Australian police has said the cause or circumstances surrounding the death are not known but will now be subject to investigation.
In total the outage left more than 604 people across the nation unable to contact emergency services through Wednesday and Thursday. Out of the 604 cases 170 ended up being referred to the police for field visits to check on the physical welfare of callers.
On Friday afternoon Minister Wells confirmed the government’s position that triple-0 services had been fully restored.
“Telstra has now provided formal notice to the triple-0 custodian that their outage has been resolved,” Ms Wells said. “And on the progress of welfare checks, I can advise the triple-0 custodian has advised me that all remaining welfare checks that Telstra needed to refer to state emergency services.”
The Minister also reiterated she did not believe the death in South Australia was related to a failure to connect an emergency call during the outage.
“Telstra has held special trust from Australians. It has been respected as the premium service. It is an iconic company. It has a rich history. But that trust really stands in peril today,” Ms Wells said.
Ms Brady, who assumed the telco’s chief executive job in 2022, also rejected suggestions the company ignored earlier warnings about vulnerabilities in its network’s timing systems before this week’s nationwide outage.
A single news report from the ABC suggested a University Professor named Allison Kealy, unconnected to Telstra, had warned them of the vulnerabilities while seeking support for a proposed critical infrastructure research centre.
Telstra shares traded up 0.4 per cent to $5 near Friday lunchtime. Analysts are divided on the medium-term future of the company, with some warning Elon Musk’s Starlink business could eventually offer cheaper internet connectivity in Australia.
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