Severe Weather events impact service in parts of the North West Slopes and Plains, Northern Tablelands and Northern Rivers Districts of New South Wales.
As previously notified around Friday 9 December 2016, normal operations in parts of the North West Slopes and Plains, Northern Tablelands and Northern Rivers Districts of New South Wales were affected by a series of severe weather events on or about Saturday 3 December 2016 through to Tuesday 6 December 2016.
The telecommunications network in these areas have experienced high levels of damage that resulted in delays to installation and repair activities on a significant number of services. Due to the extent of damage to the network, the impact in the affected region has been greater than initially estimated, and as a consequence of the continued weather effects, the expected recovery date has now been extended to 5 February 2017.
Based on current information, the resumption date of normal service operations is expected to be 5 February 2017. This date is indicative only; customers should anticipate that some further delays may occur. QTelecom regrets any inconvenience caused to customers and thanks them for their patience while this work is being undertaken.
Services encompassed in this exemption are in the area bounded by and including, but not limited to, the area starting at Patchs Beach following the NSW coast south to Evans Head turning west to Pikapene, southwest to Newton Boyd then west to Furracabad. From Furracabad the area heads southwest to Kingstown, southeast to Nowendoc, and southwest to Crawley then northwest to Eulah Creek. The area turns northeast to North Star then north to the NSW/ QLD border and following the border easterly to Donaldson. From Donaldson the area heads southeast past The Risk to Wadeville, south to Bungabbeeb and northeast to Tullera then southeast back to Patchs Beach. All suburbs and towns, off shore islands and coastal areas serviced 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:
02 5620 0000 To 02 5620 4999
02 6701 7000 To 02 6701 9999
02 5712 9000 To 02 5712 9999
02 6720 0000 To 02 6739 9999
02 6620 0800 To 02 6636 6999
02 6755 2000 To 02 6769 5999
02 6660 0000 To 02 6667 3999
02 6780 1000 To 02 6785 9999
02 6682 1000 To 02 6688 0999
As these circumstances were outside of QTelecom’s control, QTelecom is claiming an extension to time frames applying under the Telecommunications (Customer Service Guarantee) Standard 2011 This means that QTelecom is notifying customers that normal service time frames may not be met during the period of 5 December 2016 to 5 February 2017 inclusive (based on estimated recovery schedule correct at the time of publication of this notice).
