The Telstra Group Ltd (ASX: TLS) share price is pushing higher today.
Shares in the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) telco provider closed on Friday trading for $4.83. In morning trade on Monday, shares are changing hands for 4.85 apiece, up 0.41%.
For some context, the ASX 200 is up 0.6% at this same time.
This comes as investors study the potential longer-term impacts to Telstra's chief rival and Australia's second-biggest telecom provider, Optus, following last Thursday's disastrous Triple Zero services failure.
Here's what's happening.
Telstra share price gains amid rival's 000 woes
The Telstra share price could get a longer-term boost if customers decide to switch providers over last week's emergency call services drop out.
As you may know, Optus is owned by Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (SGX: Z74), commonly known as Singtel.
And on Thursday, disaster struck when a reported software maintenance update at the telco shut down the company's Triple Zero services. Worse, it took many hours for Optus to come to grips with the scale of the drop-out, which impacted customers across South Australia, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory.
According to various media reports, three people may have died after they or others on their behalf tried, and failed, to reach 000 via Optus.
Unfortunately, this isn't the first such issue for Singtel shareholders.
In 2023, the Telstra share price caught some tailwinds after Optus suffered a nationwide emergency calls services failure.
Over the weekend, Optus CEO Stephen Rue, who took the reins last November, said the company's internal investigation indicated that workers did not follow "established processes" during the maintenance update.
"As to the full technical detail of the network failure, we will need to leave that for the investigation," Rue said.
What are the experts saying?
Commenting on Optus' Triple Zero failure, independent telecoms analyst Paul Budde said (quoted by The Australian Financial Review), "Optus clearly does not have its house in order."
And a disordered house from Australia's number two telco could help support the Telstra share price in FY 2026.
Budde continued:
Is its Triple Zero system robust? Are its internal operating systems up to scratch? I would argue not. I don't think this is about shareholder structure or being Singapore-owned – I doubt the board would knowingly tolerate such shortcomings. This points instead to organisational competence.
It is certainly not a matter of being unlucky. The failures are systemic and repeated.
With today's intraday boost factored in, the Telstra share price is up 20.4% in 2025, not including dividends.
The Singtel share price has surged 42.7% over this same time.
