A senator has claimed an elderly Australian died during Telstra’s nationwide outage, as the telco warns customers about a new scam call issue emerging in the wake of the disruption. 

Millions of customers were left unable to make calls, access mobile data or use electronic payment systems as a result of a technical failure involving timers at the telco’s Sydney and Melbourne data centres.

Telstra chief financial officer Michael Ackland later revealed that 300 Triple Zero calls had been affected by the fault.

Of those, there were 79 people Telstra was unable to get hold of when they called back.

The telco giant has since identified a secondary issue that could still be impacting triple zero calls.

South Australian Liberal Senator Kerrynne Liddle has claimed that her office had received a report of a ‘tragic death following an apparent failure to connect to Triple Zero during a life-or-death emergency’.

‘This death of an elderly South Australian represents a devastating failure for their family,’ she wrote on Wednesday night.

‘Our thoughts are with them.

State Liberal senator senator Kerryanne Liddle claimed that an elderly South Australian died during Telstra’s nationwide outage on Wednesday

As Telstra melts down, its ‘$6.7million-a-year’ CEO Vicki Brady is on holidays overseas

‘No Australian should ever be unable to connect to Triple Zero when their life depends on it.’ 

South Australia Police says it is not aware of any death as a result of Wednesday’s outage.

Communications minister Anika Wells said she had not been notified by Telstra of a death.

‘I have not had it reported to me that any failure to connect to triple zero has contributed to an adverse outcome. That’s the update I have for your listeners overnight,’ Wells told ABC radio. 

‘Telstra will be providing an update later this morning with the latest round of numbers and the latest round of welfare check updates for Australians.’ 

Wells took aim at Telstra, saying her office was left waiting two-and-a-half hours to be told about the outage. 

‘I think I would have liked to have heard earlier. I understand Telstra wants to get their information correct, even as we are experiencing this outage,’ she said.

‘I was informed at about 7am. I understand the fault began at 4.30am. It would seem there was some sort of delay. That will form part of the investigation. ACMA has begun a preliminary investigation.’

Telstra chief financial officer Michael Ackland warned customers to be wary of scams

Telstra customers also have been warned to be wary of scam calls following the outage.

‘We have seen reports of customers receiving calls from fraudsters trying to take advantage of this moment,’ Mr Ackland said.

‘Our advice to our customers is if you get a call from someone claiming to be Telstra, asking you for details in light of today’s outage, please hang up and call us back directly.’

In its latest update on Thursday morning, Telstra announced that restoration work continues on the secondary issue that impacted Triple Zero calls.

‘Overnight, our team have made good progress reducing the occurrence of the subsequent Triple Zero calling error by approximately 90 per cent and will continue work to eliminate this issue entirely,’ the update states.

‘Our welfare checks process remains in place, and we continue to advise customers who experience the issue to wait for the call to be connected via an alternative network or recall using a different phone.’ 

Meanwhile, the outage has thrown Victoria’s rail network into chaos for a second consecutive day.

All regional V/Line services remain shut down on Thursday, leaving hundreds of commuters stranded.

‘There is no estimated time for rectification at this stage,’ the latest update reads.

‘Passengers are advised to defer travel where possible.’