Optus glitch fix to be put to the test for Uruguay v Saudi Arabia match

WORLD Cup streaming by Aussie telco Floptus was derailed by demand by less than 400,000 fans. And experts have warned they do not believe the telco will have fixed the glitches when it takes streaming of the matches back from TV broadcaster SBS tonight.

WORLD Cup streaming by Optus was derailed by ­demand from fewer than just 400,000 fans.

And experts have warned they do not believe the telco will have fixed the glitches when it takes streaming of the matches back from TV broadcaster SBS tonight.

Embarrassed Optus boss Allen Lew was forced to hand broadcast of six matches over to SBS to buy technicians 48 hours to solve the playback error and buffering issues that have ­infuriated fans.

Optus CEO Allen Lew had to give up six matches to SBS as technicians fix the glitch issues. Picture: Supplied

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“There has got to be some serious doubt that they can create the necessary capacity in this short amount of time,” University of Sydney marketing expert Dr Rohan Miller said.

“They have already had issues in the past with the English Premier League where they have also over-promised and underdelivered.”

Optus has blamed high levels of demand for the system crashes despite refusing to reveal just how many viewers are tuning in to its $14.99 per month service.

But SBS figures for the matches it picked up give an indication of demand.

The 10pm game between Sweden and Korea attracted 420,000 viewers and the 1am match bet­ween Belgium and Panama pulled in just 150,000 viewers.

Optus pay-per-view figures are believed to be lower but still overwhelmed the Optus system and left more than 40,000 fans at a time staring at a blank screen.

Telecommunication expert Paul Budde said: “There is no excuse for the fact that they did not prepare for the high level of traffic.”

Experts don’t believe the system will be back up in time. Picture: AAP Image/Luis Ascui

Mr Budde said the Optus “system was not built with proper capacity” and technicians would not be able to add capacity in time.

Optus public affairs boss Andrew Sheridan said: “We took a step back to put customers first because we ­realise just how important the World Cup is … This has got the top priority of our senior management.

“We have got our best int­ernal experts working on this and it is being directed by our CEO,” he said.