Outage hits Australia39;s secondlargest telecom provider
Optus says some services are gradually being restored
Optus CEO says no indication of a cyber attack
Homes, offices affected across Australia

SYDNEY, Nov 8 Reuters An outage at No.2 Australian telco Optus left nearly half the population without internet or phone on Wednesday, throwing payment, transport and health systems into chaos and raising questions about the fragility of the country39;s core infrastructure.

The outage was first reported about 4 a.m. local time 1700 GMT on Tuesday and it was not until almost 5.30 p.m. that Optus said services had been restored.

Some 10 million Australians, 40 of the population, are Optus customers and could not use smartphones, broadband internet or landlines for much of the day.

Hospitals couldn39;t take phone calls, small businesses were unable to process electronic payments and train networks and ride share services were down simultaneously in some cities.

The incident sparked criticism about the robustness of Australia39;s telecommunications network and in particular about Optus, which is owned by Singapore Telecommunications.

Customers are clearly frustrated about it and Optus should respond to that accordingly, said Communications Minister Michelle Rowland.

No cause of the failure was given but it has occurred deep within the network and it has wide ramifications across mobile, fixed, and broadband services for Optus customers, Rowland added.

Optus reported…