Transcript: ATA CEO Luke Coleman on ABC Newcastle Breakfast 6/11/25
Luke Coleman
Telecommunications networks are critical infrastructure, and vandalism of these networks can have potentially catastrophic consequences for Australians. What appears to have occurred yesterday, it looks like someone has deliberately, as an act of vandalism, cut multiple fibre lines that go to a number of towers throughout the region.
We have pits that you see on the side of the road where telecommunications fibre lines run through. It appears that somebody has gone into a pit to cut those fibre lines. And I understand that police are investigating that incident.
But really, this puts people’s lives at risk. When fibre lines are cut, that means that mobile towers cannot connect back into the network. And if people are cut off, they’ll be cut off not only from normal phone calls, but potentially also lose the ability to call emergency services when they need to.
The good news is, telcos worked together to fix the problem as a matter of urgency. You had engineers on site from multiple telcos that were sharing resources, they were sharing equipment and offering each other mutual assistance. And the good news is that those towers were restored before 9pm last night, and everyone’s back online.
Paul Culliver
Okay, do you have any data on how many Triple Zero calls weren’t connected yesterday?
Luke Coleman
I don’t have that exact number here. But I understand that welfare checks on all Triple Zero calls that were unable to get through during the outage are complete, and everybody is accounted for.
So that’s the good news. I’m sure in time, we will have the precise number of those calls. But everybody is accounted for. And I understand those welfare checks are complete and that we can expect to see a statement from Optus in the near future to confirm that information.
Paul Culliver
+And I suppose inherent in that information is that even though the Triple Zero calls didn’t connect, Optus has a log of who attempted?
Luke Coleman
That’s right, you’ll be able to, in most cases, see attempted calls to Triple Zero. Now, with calls that can’t make it through to their primary network, your phone will automatically start searching for any other available network.
If you can’t get through to one carrier, but there’s a strong signal from another carrier like Telstra or TPG, your phone will connect through to that network to connect that Triple Zero call – that’s called ‘camping on’ to another network. But of course, that all depends on another network being available. So if malicious damage to telecommunications infrastructure has cut off multiple networks and there are no available networks, well, then your phone won’t be able to camp on to an alternative network.
Now, hopefully, if you’re at home and you’ve got the NBN at home and you’ve got a Wi-Fi connection, your phone should still be able to call Triple Zero via Wi-Fi. So there are a range of options available to get you through to Triple Zero, but it does depend on there being a network connection available.
Paul Culliver
Well, unfortunately, fast running out of time before the eight o’clock news. Is there any pertinent key information you are hoping to get across to listeners this morning, Luke?
Luke Coleman
I would simply say that if anybody has any information on this act of vandalism to please report it to police. There is an investigation underway. But the good news is all towers were back online by 9 p.m. last night, and I understand that welfare checks are complete for anyone who tried to get through to triple zero during the outage.
Paul Culliver
We obviously can’t speculate on what the motivation of these vandals were. Obviously, that police investigation ongoing. But would there be any material benefit to someone by cutting these lines? Like we obviously have heard about copper thefts. Could it be something like that related to this?
Luke Coleman
I simply couldn’t speculate at this point about what this person’s motivations might be. We need to let the police investigation run its course.
Paul Culliver
Okay. And it also goes to questions about network vulnerabilities. Is there something more that needs to be done to stop something from like this being possible or from having such a deep impact in a community like Maitland and Port Stephens?
Luke Coleman
Telcos do have a range of backup options that are available when primary networks go down. They will often have arrangements where if a fibre line is cut, they will use another line from another provider and there are mutual assistance contracts in place.
However, if multiple fibre lines that are going to a location get cut all at the same time, then those backup options can go down as well.
Telcos do already invest very heavily in network resilience, but you cannot prepare for every eventuality and you can’t prepare, necessarily, for a situation where your primary line and your backup line might get cut. But the good news is the telcos acted very promptly and worked collaboratively to get those networks back up and running as quickly as possible.
Paul Culliver
I really appreciate your time today. Thank you so much.
Luke Coleman
Thanks for having me on the program.
