Canterbury Earthquake
5pm Wednesday 23 February Update

Update
Vodafone is continuing to bring its cell sites in the east of the city back online after the Christchurch earthquake. The company is deploying generators to the sites which are currently without power, but this work is being hampered by difficulties moving around the city.

Customers sending TXTs between the three networks (Vodafone, Telecom and 2Degrees) may experience some delays in those TXTs getting through, but Vodafone expects any backlog to be cleared over the next few hours.

The company’s earlier advice requesting customers to save their phones for emergency calls, and use txt for non-critical communications, still stands. Vodafone also asks that customers limit mobile data usage (Facebook, Twitter, video/picture messaging, email) as this puts strain on the network and may hamper rescue efforts.
Vodafone also suggests that customers leave a temporary message* on their voicemail to let callers know the time and date, location and that they are OK This provides some reassurance should mobile phone batteries go flat given the difficulties with power supply.
The next media update will be on Thursday morning.

Previous Update
Vodafone’s mobile network in the Canterbury region continues to be operational but due to the current demand on telecommunications we are experiencing some congestion.

Power supply to the west of the Christchurch CBD has been restored but there is no current restore time for power in eastern parts of the city due to the extensive damage to supply infrastructure. Many of our sites in that area are currently working on back-up power and others are currently off the air due to exhausted back-up power sources. Generators have begun to arrive, sites are already being brought back online with further sites being connected as the day progresses. Additional mobile cell sites are on their way to the region to be used where necessary.

We ask customers to save their phones for emergency calls, and use txt for non-critical communications. We also ask that customers limit mobile data usage (Facebook, Twitter, video/picture messaging, email) as this puts strain on the network and may hamper rescue efforts.
Vodafone continues to work closely with Civil Defence, government agencies, other telecommunications providers and utilities to restore communications and provide assistance. Ongoing updates of the situation are also available on Vodafone’s website and Forum.
The situation is rapidly changing and we will keep the media updated.
Our thoughts are with the entire Christchurch community.

ENDS