Dear Valued Customers,
Due to the effect of a series of severe thunderstorms, which have caused damage to the Telstra telecommunications network throughout widespread areas of the Sydney Metropolitan, Hunter, Illawarra and South Coast Districts of New South Wales on or about Monday 4 January 2016 through to Wednesday 6 January 2016, there has been a significant increase in the number of Telstra services being reported as faulty in those regions.
Due to the extent and severity of these ongoing severe weather events, Telstra is redeploying a large number of staff from across Australia to the affected regions. As a result, there will be delays to normal installation and repair activities in the Adelaide Metropolitan, Mount Lofty Ranges and Kangaroo Island Districts of South Australia, as staff from this region are redeployed.
QTelecom apologises to any affected customers.
Information as to the nature of these severe weather events can be sourced from the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM). Heavy rainfall and flash flooding are referred to in the BOM Severe Weather Warning issued for 4 January 2016 initially at 11:01 am Monday, 4 January 2016, reference number IDN20032. Additionally these unusually severe weather events have been widely reported by most of the news media.
Telstra has identified that the effect of these circumstances may apply to approximately 6,300 services in the Adelaide Metropolitan, Mount Lofty Ranges and Kangaroo Island Districts of South Australia. Some of these services may not be installed or repaired within Telstra’s standard time frames. The number of possibly affected services may increase or decrease as Telstra assesses the full effect of the extreme weather conditions. Based on current information, the resumption date of Telstra’s normal service operations is expected to be 13 March 2016. This date is indicative only, however, and may be subject to change once the full impact of the extreme weather conditions has been assessed. QTelecom regrets any inconvenience caused to customers and thanks them for their patience while this work is being undertaken.
QTelecom services encompassed in this exemption are in the area bounded by and including, but not limited to, the area starting at Middle Beach then heading northeast to Wasleys, then east to Greenock. The area then turns southeast past Angaston and Keyneton to Cambrai. From Cambrai the area turns southwest past Mt Barker to Tooperang. The area then turns southeast to Goolwa and following the coastline clockwise past Victor Harbor, Cape Jervis and Port Adelaide back to Middle Beach. All suburbs and towns including metropolitan Adelaide, off shore islands and coastal areas serviced by QTelecom within these boundaries are encompassed in this exemption.
Services in the area mentioned above with phone numbers in the following number ranges may have been affected:
08 7285 0000 To 08 7285 8999
08 7383 0000 To 08 7389 9999
08 7522 4000 To 08 7522 4999
08 8100 0700 To 08 8116 6499
08 8130 0000 To 08 8139 9999
08 8150 0000 To 08 8449 9999
08 8520 0000 To 08 8536 7999
08 8550 0000 To 08 8568 5999
08 8598 0000 To 08 8598 9999
As these circumstances were outside of qTelecom’s control, Telstra is claiming an exemption from compliance with time frames and performance standards required under the Telecommunications (Customer Service Guarantee) Standard 2011.
Therefore QTelecom is notifying customers that normal installation and repair time frames may not be met during the period from 16 February 2016 to 13 March 2016 inclusive (based on Telstra’s estimated recovery schedule correct at the time of publication of this notice) and, under section 21 of the Telecommunications (Customer Service Guarantee) Standard 2011, QTelecom will be exempt from complying with performance standards during this period.
We apologise for the inconvenience.
With thanks,
QTelecom Customer Care Team
