Telstra looking into e-mail failure

March 1, 2001

Telstra Corp Ltd said today it was investigating a computer software fault which impacted 68,000 of its customers' e-mail accounts early this week.

Telstra said the glitch for all account names starting with I,L or M had been repaired and customers should contact the company if they felt compensation was due.

However, Telstra's Big Pond mail service is not covered by a customer guarantee service and claims are likely to be limited.

"We believe the impact was quite small in a relative sense," Telstra spokesman Stuart Gray said.

"If people feel they should be compensated they should contact Telstra."

Mr Gray said two email outages impacted about ten per cent of Big Pond's 680,000 customer base for four hours on Friday and again on Monday.

The glitch meant delays of up to four-hours to receive incoming e-mails. Outgoing mail was not impacted.

"There was not a virus involved, it was a computer software fault," Mr Gray said.

"Since Monday evening the system has been working normally."

He said Telstra was investigating the problem to ensure it did not happen again.