Optus has been forced to issue an apology following poor quality streams, buffering and playback issues with the broadcasting of the FIFA World Cup.
Optus experienced its first tech problems during Friday night’s match between Egypt and Uruguay.
Angry consumers paying $14.99 per month for the streaming Optus Sport service took to social media to decry the service.
Is anyone out there having problems watching @FIFAWorldCup #ARGvICE because I certainly am ?
— Robbie Slater (@RobbieSlater17) June 16, 2018
Going to bed what a farce ! Absolute disgrace !
— Robbie Slater (@RobbieSlater17) June 16, 2018
Bought Optus App. Still haven’t seen one minute of football on it. This needs to be addressed. Can’t believe Australians are held out of watching the biggest football event in the WORLD. Unbelievably poor #OptusSport
— Elise Kellond-Knight (@elise_kk8) June 16, 2018
A cracking start to the game.#SerbiaVsCostaRica #WorldCup #WorldCupRussia2018 #Optus pic.twitter.com/RGeb7hMpoY
— Nick Quinn (@Quinny_1) June 17, 2018
TV personality Karl Stefanovic also hopped on the bandwagon, slamming Optus on this morning’s episode of the Today Show.
During the heated takedown, Stefanovic said, “It’s the biggest show in town – and instead of watching the World Cup we are watching ‘playback error’ on our phones.
https://youtu.be/Jl8zPR38LCc
“Many were sceptical when Optus acquired the rights to the World Cup, many thought they wouldn’t be up to it – well nearly a week in, they are proving the sceptics right.
“Optus is hopeless. If you can’t deliver the product you are selling you go out of business. The problem is no-one else can sell it, they don’t have the rights, Optus has the rights.”
Optus has now released a public apology addressing the issues.
"I apologise unreservedly to all Australians.
"We should have done better, we can do better and we will do better."@Optus CEO Allen Lew to @OptusSport customers who experienced streaming issues during the opening nights of the #WorldCup #OptusSport
— Optus (@Optus) June 17, 2018
It read, “We have seen a large demand for our streaming service and the overwhelming majority of people have had a positive experience.
“Unfortunately, a small number of customers who watched the match on the Optus Sport app, on certain devices, experienced some buffering issues.”
“Optus has taken a number of pro-active actions with our partners to improve the experience of these customers.
“As a result of these actions, incidences of buffering reduced significantly during the course of the night to low levels.”
