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🇦🇺 Australia /Technology

Western Cape York Hit by Second Telecom Outage After Bushfire Damage

From ABC Australia · () English

Translated from English, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • Telecommunications services in western Cape York experienced another outage due to a secondary power-related fault, hours after services were restored from a weekend bushfire.
  • The bushfire on the weekend caused significant damage to optic fibre infrastructure, leading to an outage of nearly 30 hours for mobile phone reception in several towns.
  • Local businesses, like the Weipa Campground, were severely impacted by the loss of internet services, forcing them to rely on backup systems and manual processes.

Telecommunications in western Cape York were hit by another outage this morning, just hours after services had been restored following a weekend bushfire that crippled the network. The latest disruption was attributed to a "secondary power-related fault" at a Telstra site, according to Rachel Cliffe, Telstra's northern Queensland general manager.

"That's secondary to what Mother Nature did on the weekend," Cliffe explained, noting that smaller sites have fewer power backups. The weekend outage, caused by a bushfire that burnt through the company's pit and optic fibre, lasted nearly 30 hours. It affected mobile phone reception in Weipa, Mapoon, Aurukun, Mission River, Napranum, and Rocky Point, preventing calls, including to emergency services.

That's secondary to what Mother Nature did on the weekend.

— Rachel CliffeTelstra's northern Queensland general manager, explaining the cause of the latest outage.

Cliffe defended the restoration time, stating that crews had to be deployed from Cairns to repair the extensive damage. "It doesn't take two minutes to do [fix] this … we needed to replace large lengths of optic fibre and connect them in," she said, apologizing for the inconvenience.

It doesn't take two minutes to do [fix] this … we needed to replace large lengths of optic fibre and connect them in.

— Rachel CliffeTelstra's northern Queensland general manager, defending the time taken to restore services after the bushfire.

Local businesses suffered significantly. Angela Burr, manager of the Weipa Campground, described the loss of internet services as the biggest impact. "Once we realised it was attached to the internet, it was a bit of a scramble to work out how we were going to proceed," she said. Guests were arriving, and Burr struggled to confirm bookings, payments, and site availability. The campground had to revert to manual record-keeping and set up Starlink, which took time to activate. Although they were back to full operation by Sunday, services were slower.

Burr noted that guests acted responsibly regarding payments before Starlink was operational, and the business was not financially affected. However, the incident highlighted the profound reliance on these systems. "It hit us hard, the realization of how much we truly rely on this system," she stated.

It hit us hard, the realization of how much we truly rely on this system.

— Angela BurrWeipa Campground manager, reflecting on the impact of the telecommunications outage on her business.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by ABC Australia in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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