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What's new: The recent major network outage in Australia was because the provider failed to heed a January warning from Microchip (RNTF member since 2018!) to update software on their equipment for the GPS week rollover.
Why it's important: Apparently time really is important. And if you take your PNT services for granted and don't pay attention, bad things can happen.
What else to know:
- Legislation signed into law in 2018 requires the U.S. Department of Transportation to ensure a terrestrial timing network is established to complement and backup GPS. That way, even if something goes wrong with GPS signals or user equipment, another authoritative source of time will be available. - Nothing has been done.
- Our colleague Ramsey Faragher, CEO of the Royal Institute of Navigation, had this incident figured out before it broke in the press. His great explanation is here.
- Here are a couple of posts from the last time this became a problem reported n the media:
Technology
Telstra Ignored Microchip Warnings Before Devastating National Outage
Telstra executives ignored explicit warnings from US supplier Microchip Technology about a software flaw, leading to a catastrophic nationwide outage on July 8.
Telstra executives ignored repeated warnings from a United States-based hardware supplier to update critical infrastructure, directly causing a devastating national network outage that blocked emergency calls and crippled public transport. The revelations, presented during a heated Senate inquiry in Canberra on July 17, 2026, expose profound systemic negligence at Australia's largest telecommunications provider.
The outage, which occurred on July 8, wiped out mobile coverage for millions, shut down electronic payment terminals across 80,000 businesses, and prevented over 600 Australians from reaching the Triple Zero emergency hotline. For international markets, including East Africa where telecom operators like Kenya's Safaricom anchor the broader digital economy, the Australian crisis serves as a stark warning about supply chain complacency. A similar failure affecting the M-Pesa network could paralyze transactions worth billions of Kenyan Shillings (KES) daily.
