South Island earthquake – 4.30pm, 6 September

South Island earthquake – 4.30pm, 6 September

Current status

Telecom services continue to stand up well in the South Island following the earthquake on Saturday morning, and Telecom is continuing to work in partnership with Civil Defence agencies to complete restoration of services.

We continue to monitor the situation closely, in light of continued aftershocks in the area, and deteriorating weather conditions.

Telecom has made payphones in and around Christchurch free for local, national and mobile calls. Over 1,000 calls have already been made. Telecom asks people to use the payphones responsibly, by keeping calls brief and making important calls only.

The payphone network is based on copper lines, and therefore not reliant on mains power, and has proved extremely robust.

Service status - unchanged

111 services are fully-available and fixed line infrastructure is performing well, as are both Telecom mobile networks.

All four Civil Defence social assistance sites have telecommunications service.

Telecom has obtained enough back-up generators and diesel to maintain core services, regardless of mains-power availability, and continues to attempt to access sites as soon as possible, subject to damage and civil defence requirements

Telecom’s network business, Chorus, is investigating physical damage to network infrastructure, with an emphasis on maintaining core parts of the network.

Our Gen-i ICT business is prioritising supporting clients who are involved in providing essential services and infrastructure.

Information for customers - unchanged

Telecom has run advisories in the Christchurch Press and on all local commercial radio stations today with practical information for customers on how to check and restore their telecommunications services.

In situations where customers remain without power to their homes, cordless landline phones will not be working as base stations require power. If customers in this situation have analogue (non-cordless) landline phones, they will still work without power, so they are encouraged to try using those for landline calls.

ENDS