Dear Valued Customers,
The purpose of this announcement is to notify you of a CSG exemption being claimed by QTelecom as a result of a series of severe weather events in the Sunshine Coast and part of the Wide Bay and Burnett District of Queensland on or about Friday 29 January 2016 through to Saturday 30 January 2016.
Due to the effect of damage to the Telstra telecommunications network by severe thunderstorms, there has been a significant increase in the number of Telstra services being reported as faulty. As a result, there has been some disruption to service and delays to normal installation and repair activities.
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). Damaging wind, heavy rainfall and large hailstones are referred to in the BOM Severe Weather Warning issued for 29 January 2016 initially at 2:18 pm Friday, 29 January 2016, reference number IDQ20041; all of which were widely reported in the news media after the events.
Telstra has identified that the effect of these circumstances may apply to approximately 3,000 services. 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 severe weather conditions. Based on current information, the resumption date of Telstra’s normal service operations is expected to be 6 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. Telstra regrets any inconvenience caused to customers and thanks them for their patience while this work is being undertaken.
Telstra services encompassed in this exemption are in the area bounded by and including, but are not limited to, the area starting at Tin Can Bay following the coastline south past Noosa Heads and Caloundra to Pelican Waters. From Pelican Waters the area heads northwest to Landsborough, west to Booroobin then northwest to Manumbar. The area heads northeast past Woolooga to Glen Echo then turns east back to Tin Can Bay. All suburbs and towns, off shore
islands and coastal areas serviced by Telstra 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:
07 5331 5000 To 07 5352 8999
07 5370 1000 To 07 5371 0999
07 5390 0000 To 07 5390 9999
07 5401 0000 To 07 5459 9999
07 5470 0000 To 07 5499 9999
As these circumstances were outside of QTelecom’s control, QTelecom is claiming an exemption from compliance with time frames and performance standards required under the Telecommunications (Customer Service Guarantee) Standard 2011.
Therefore we are notifying customers that normal installation and repair time frames may not be met during the period from 7 January 2016 to 7 February 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
