What's the Story? Optus further tarnishes reputation with network crash

Light Reading's Robert Clark joins the podcast to explain how Optus' network crash happened, and the impact it had on customers and their trust in the service provider. Plus, developments in SK Telecom's AI strategy.

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Kelsey Ziser, Phil Harveyand 1 more

December 7, 2023

At a Glance

  • How the Optus network crash happened (01:07)
  • Impact of the network crash on Optus' executive team (05:23)
  • SK Telecom goes all-in on AI (15:21)

The network crash of Australian service provider Optus last month impacted 10 million subscribers and took a significant toll on the company's already tarnished reputation. Just last year, Optus revealed a privacy breach of the personal data of its 10 million customers – the largest privacy leak in Australia's history. 

Light Reading's Robert Clark joins the podcast to explain how the network crash happened, and the impact it had on customers and their trust in the service provider. In addition, he discusses some developments in SK Telecom's AI strategy. 

Click on the caption button for a lightly edited transcript.

Here are a few topics we cover:

  • How the Optus network crash happened (01:07)

  • Around 10 million subscribers and thousands of businesses lost mobile coverage and Internet access for over 12 hours during the network crash (04:08)

  • Impact of the network crash on Optus' executive team (05:23)

  • Data breach leaks personal data of Optus customers (06:18)

  • CEO of Optus resigns in wake of network crash (07:32)

  • SK Telecom goes all-in on AI (15:21)

About the Author(s)

Kelsey Ziser

Senior Editor, Light Reading

Kelsey is a senior editor at Light Reading, co-host of the Light Reading podcast, and host of the "What's the story?" podcast.

Her interest in the telecom world started with a PR position at Connect2 Communications, which led to a communications role at the FREEDM Systems Center, a smart grid research lab at N.C. State University. There, she orchestrated their webinar program across college campuses and covered research projects such as the center's smart solid-state transformer.

Kelsey enjoys reading four (or 12) books at once, watching movies about space travel, crafting and (hoarding) houseplants.

Kelsey is based in Raleigh, N.C.

Phil Harvey

Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading

Phil Harvey has been a Light Reading writer and editor for more than 18 years combined. He began his second tour as the site's chief editor in April 2020.

His interest in speed and scale means he often covers optical networking and the foundational technologies powering the modern Internet.

Harvey covered networking, Internet infrastructure and dot-com mania in the late 90s for Silicon Valley magazines like UPSIDE and Red Herring before joining Light Reading (for the first time) in late 2000.

After moving to the Republic of Texas, Harvey spent eight years as a contributing tech writer for D CEO magazine, producing columns about tech advances in everything from supercomputing to cellphone recycling.

Harvey is an avid photographer and camera collector – if you accept that compulsive shopping and "collecting" are the same.

Robert Clark

Contributing Editor, Special to Light Reading

Robert Clark is an independent technology editor and researcher based in Hong Kong. In addition to contributing to Light Reading, he also has his own blog,  Electric Speech (http://www.electricspeech.com). 

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