Telecommunications company Optus experienced a network failure that left millions of Australians without mobile and internet services. The outage caused transport delays, cut hospital phone lines, and shut down payment systems. Optus, the country’s second-largest provider, said more than 10 million people and thousands of businesses were affected. Services were restored after around 12 hours of disruption.

The firm blamed a “technical network fault” and said more time would be needed to investigate the root cause. The disruption affected the Australian Football League match between Brisbane Lions and Melbourne Demons at The Gabba. Other providers that use the Optus network, including Amaysim, Aussie Broadband, Moose Mobile, and more, were also affected. One Optus customer told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation the incident had left her unable to receive important updates about her father’s cancer treatment.

Another customer, Annie, told local radio she found out about the disruption when her cat’s automatic wi-fi-enabled feeder failed. Optus CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin apologized for the network failure, telling ABC News: “Until we know what happened, we can’t say anything more.”1234