We Survived Yasi But Telstra let us down badly

[ZC-Cruiser]

As a bit of background, I am a Telecommunications Technician and worked for Telecom/Telstra from 1981 to 1999 in the Network Construction section.
I now live at Mena Creek, near Innisfail.

After Cyclone Yasi belted us last Thursday night, the electricity supply to the entire area was cut due to downed power lines.

The Landline Telephones at Mena Creek and other small towns without power stopped working on Fri 4th Feb because Telstra has not provided adequate emergency power for the outlying telephone exchanges.

Larger telephone exchanges like the one at Innisfail have backup generators that automatically start soon after the mains power goes off.

The ONLY reason that the Mena Creek area did not have landline telephones from Friday 4th Feb till Mon 7th Feb is that the telephone exchange on Mena Creek Road had no electricity and no working backup generator. This resulted in the exchange batteries going flat.
Other small exchanges in the cyclone affected area without power supply were in exactly the same situation.

Telstra did not make any attempt to supply emergency power to the Mena Creek telephone exchange until Sunday 6th Feb.
On Sunday 6th Feb, they discovered that the emergency generator at the Mena Creek telephone exchange was faulty and a replacement generator was required.

I was informed by a reliable source that Telstra had no replacement generators available in Cairns because the replacement generators are now stored in Brisbane and were unable to travel further north than Townsville due to flooding on the Bruce Highway.

Apparently, Telstra has outsourced the management of the provision of power to their equipment to a company called Sentinar.
When I asked why the generators at these small sites were not maintained and ready to go, I was told that Telstra did not want to pay Sentinar to do that work.

Prior to Telstra being privatised, backup generators were at all sites and maintained in a condition that enabled them to be pressed into service when required.
In areas such as Euramo where localised flooding could prevent Telstra staff from getting to the exchange to start the generator, local residents were given the key to the generator so they could start it up and keep it fuelled to keep the exchange running. This is no longer the case.

Without power being supplied to the exchange, the batteries discharge and the exchange goes down, depriving all people in the area of telephone and internet services.

It is frustrating that the current management of Telstra has allowed this aspect of their network to fall into such disrepair with the result being a substantially sub-standard service being provided at a time when good communications are essential.

If there were well maintained generators at these sites, responsible local residents could be given the key to the generator enclosure and start the generator when the mains supply is off.
There are any number of people who could have this responsibility, Rural Fire Brigade Chief, School Principal, Postal Manager, Publican etc.
Regional Manager, Amanda Albon, told ABC Local Radio that Telstra does not do this due to security concerns but did not explain exactly how a responsible local person having access to the backup generator could compromise their security.

As a result of not having their outlying exchanges provided with backup power and arrangements in place to connect that power to the exchanges, large sections of Telstra's network went down on Fri 4th Feb with some 50,000 customers not having landline or internet services. The only reason for the vast majority of these customers being without service was that their Telephone Exchange batteries were flat.

Being deprived of this essential service is unacceptable because:
Access to 000 emergency services was limited - mobile service to the area is marginal at the best of times.
School could not reopen without landlines for safety reasons – mobile service is not reliable.
No EFTPOS available at local businesses (who are open due to being competent enough to provide their own emergency power).
No internet was available to enable us to access weather services to determine whether the systems developing in the Coral Sea might form more Cyclones.
Local businesses could not receive calls from customers enquiring about their services.

The Telstra CountryWide regional Manager “responsible” for allowing this debacle to occur is Amanda Albon.

I believe that this aspect of the Telstra network requires immediate attention and arrangements made to ensure that Telstra sites in outlying communities are provided with reliable backup power for when mains supply fails.

I also think that Telstra management should be asked to explain why this aspect of the network has been allowed to fall into disrepair.

Sincerely,
--
Les Cavanagh