A major network outage hit Vodafone Australia on Thursday, June 18, 2026, beginning around 8:00 AM AEST, affecting tens of thousands of customers across major cities and regional centres.
Incident Details
The outage was attributed to a power failure at one of Vodafone's network hubs. At its peak, over 8,000 reports were recorded on the outage tracking website Downdetector.
Affected users reported their phones displaying "SOS mode" in multiple locations, including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Canberra, Darwin, and regional centres. Customers of Kogan Mobile, which operates on the Vodafone network, were also impacted.
Company Response
Vodafone acknowledged "intermittent issues" with its network and stated that the problem had been identified and resolved, with services being progressively restored. The company recommended that customers restart their devices to help re-establish connections.
During the outage, Vodafone's online network status checker was unavailable. A company spokesperson stated that the status page was hosted on systems located at the same affected hub.
Vodafone noted that customers unable to access the Vodafone network should have been able to reach Triple Zero emergency services by connecting to other available mobile networks during the outage.
Network and Customer Base
Vodafone is Australia's third-largest mobile network operator, serving approximately 5.4 million customers. This includes subscribers of TPG, iiNet, Internode, and Lebara.
Following the outage, some customers reported that restarting their phones did not restore service.
Regulatory and Industry Context
The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman reported a 5.7% increase in consumer complaints in the most recent quarter. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has implemented rules requiring telecommunications companies to provide timely information during network outages.
Federal communications minister Anika Wells is expected to face scrutiny regarding the incident.
This outage follows an Optus outage on September 18, 2025, which affected emergency services access. The federal government subsequently ordered a review of laws governing Triple Zero. New rules now require telecommunications companies to report network outages to the regulator and emergency services in real time. The ACMA is currently investigating the Optus outage.