Some Telstra customers in Australia have been unable to reach the Triple Zero emergency line following a nationwide outage that began early on Wednesday, leaving millions temporarily unable to make calls, use mobile data or process electronic payments. The disruption matters because it affected access to emergency services, with the telco confirming that 300 Triple Zero calls were impacted, and a South Australian senator claiming a report of a death linked to a failure to connect.

The fault stemmed from a software issue at Telstra's Sydney and Melbourne data centres, affecting the nodes that keep time across its mobile network. On Thursday morning Telstra advised anyone struggling to reach Triple Zero to immediately retry their call, saying many calls connected successfully on a second attempt. The company said teams had worked overnight, that its welfare check process remained in place, and that it was working urgently for a full fix. Liberal Senator Kerrynne Liddle said her office had received a report of the "tragic death" of an elderly South Australian following an apparent failure to connect during an emergency.