Lightning strike believed to be behind Triple Zero outage

Fire takes out cable in NSW

Credit: Telstra

Update 11:30am AEST:  Telstra says that the restoration of the cable in NSW has been completed and Triple Zero services services are returning to normal. “We're working with emergency services and our government and enterprise customers to manage any residual issues,” the company said. “We're deeply sorry for the interruptions.”

Telstra believes a fire caused by a lightning strike is behind a cable outage that has caused intermittent outages for the Triple Zero emergency service.

A Telstra cable was cut between Orange and Bowral in NSW at 2.05am this morning.

Telstra said that routers impacted by the outage were restored about 4:50am. However, the telco revealed at approximately 6.30am that it had become aware of a problem with Triple Zero calls.

“There are still intermittent interruptions to 000 calls in NSW, VIC & WA following the cable cut in NSW earlier today,” Telstra said.

“We're working closely with emergency services in those States.”

A fibre repair crew are on site at a cable pit east of Orange, the telco said.

The impact is mostly in New South Wales, with some interruptions in Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia.

NSW Police said it was aware of the issue

“If requiring assistance from any of the emergency services, members of the public are urged to contact Triple Zero (‘000’) in the first instance,” NSW Police said in a statement.

“If unable to get through on Triple Zero, callers requiring any of the emergency services should call Police Assistance Line on 131 444.

“As always, please call for genuine emergencies only.”

Earlier this week Telstra suffered problems with its 4G voice services.

The telco blamed technical changes ahead of upgrades to mobile traffic control equipment in the telco’s Exhibition Street exchange in Melbourne for the outage.


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