On February 2, 2017, a fire at a Telstra exchange in Chatswood, Sydney, led to widespread communication disruptions. The incident impacted various services across the city and beyond, affecting numerous customers.

The fire damaged critical power infrastructure within the exchange, resulting in a loss of service for many Telstra customers. Mobile and fixed services, NBN connections, landline services, and SMS messaging were all reported to be failing.

The disruption extended to critical services, with discount airline Jetstar experiencing significant issues. They were forced to manually check in customers, leading to delays for at least nine flights. Problems were also reported in other Australian state capitals, including Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide.

Telstra confirmed the fire was contained but acknowledged the damage to its power infrastructure. Technicians were immediately dispatched to assess the full impact and begin restoration efforts.

As a temporary measure, Telstra announced that SMS messages would be held while they worked to resolve the underlying issue. The company committed to providing more information as it became available and was working to resolve the situation as soon as possible.