Updated ,first published
A failure at one of Vodafone’s network hubs cut mobile services for tens of thousands of customers across Australia on Thursday, before the carrier restored most connections by mid-morning.
Vodafone, owned by TPG Telecom, said the outage began about 8am AEST and had since been isolated and resolved, though some customers might still experience intermittent problems as their devices reconnected.
More than 8000 reports were lodged on the tracking site Downdetector at the peak, with affected users dropping to SOS mode across most capital cities and many regional centres. Customers on Kogan Mobile, which runs on the Vodafone network, were also cut off.
Affected users reported their phones dropping to SOS mode across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and Canberra, as well as regional centres. Customers on Kogan Mobile, which runs on the Vodafone network, were also cut off.
Vodafone’s own online network status checker failed during the outage, returning error messages.
“We are aware that some customers are experiencing intermittent issues with the Vodafone network this morning. The issue has been isolated and resolved, and services are now being progressively restored,” the telco said in a statement.
“The disruption was caused by an outage at one of our network hubs at around 8am. Most services have now been restored, however some may continue to experience intermittent issues as devices reconnect. Customers who could not access the Vodafone network should have been able to access Triple Zero by connecting to other available mobile networks during this time.
“We apologise for the inconvenience and recommend customers restart their devices to help restore connections.”
The outage comes as Australia’s telcos remain under heavy scrutiny over repeated price hikes, the reliability of their networks and emergency calling. A Senate committee spent much of late 2025 and early this year grilling the major carriers after an Optus failure on September 18 left hundreds of customers unable to reach Triple Zero across South Australia, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and parts of New South Wales. The 14-hour outage, caused by a botched firewall upgrade, was initially linked to four deaths, though Optus later said police had connected two fatalities to the failure.
Vodafone has also faced its own reckoning, with chief executive Iñaki Berroeta telling senators in December that two deaths had been linked to Triple Zero failures on its Vodafone network, both involving older Samsung handsets running outdated software. The inquiry’s chair, Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young, accused the industry of a “cover-up” over how slowly one of those deaths was disclosed.
The communications watchdog, the Australian Communications and Media Authority, is investigating the Optus outage, and the federal government has ordered a wider review of the laws governing Triple Zero. New rules now require telcos to report network outages to the regulator and emergency services in real time.
Broader frustration with telcos is also on the rise, with complaints to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman up 5.7 per cent over the most recent quarter.
“When people can’t use their mobile, it disrupts access to basic necessities and stops people getting on with their lives,” the telecommunications industry ombudsman, Cynthia Gebert, said. She said the problem was exacerbated for customers in regional, rural and remote areas with fewer alternatives.
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David Swan is the technology editor for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. He was previously technology editor for The Australian newspaper.Connect via X or email.
