Mobile coverage collapses: Storms cut power, batteries go flat

Telstra mobile coverage at 223 sites is down, as are 4831 landlines in the wake of yesterday’s storms that slammed Victoria.

Mobile coverage collapsed after storms cut power to phone towers across Victoria.

Mobile phone coverage has collapsed across eastern Victoria in the wake of Tuesday’s storms that cut power to towers.

Battery backup remains at just two to four hours on the vast majority of mobile towers, leaving many communities without communication in the wake of major storms and fire.

Telstra’s outage maps shows multiple towers had reduced or lost coverage, mainly in the state’s east.

Telstra reported yesterday’s storms resulted in widespread power outages. As of midday Wednesday Telstra said it had:

263 mobile sites restored since yesterday’s storms;

223 mobile sites currently disrupted;

4831 landline phone services disrupted;

22 ADSL services disrupted.

Telstra regional general manager Steve Tinker said the telco was “continuing to see impacts to our network due to the widespread power outages caused by the severe storms in Victoria yesterday”.

“We’ve brought a number of sites back online overnight and this morning, including a large number in the Gippsland region, but with the power outages continuing there’s still a lot to do,” he said.

“Many of our network sites have back up power that kept services in many areas running after the storms hit, but they can’t last for extended power outages.

“We have teams on the ground across the state and we’re working with power authorities and emergency services to access and restore power to affected sites

“We know how important it is to stay in touch with loved ones during times like this and we are working to get everything back online as quickly as possible where it’s safe for our technicians to do so.”

Those farmers that could be contacted across Gippsland reported intermittent coverage.

Nambrok farmer Brett Matthews said he had no internet reception and mobile coverage was patchy.

Yarram dairy farmer Paul Mumford said his dairy lost power last night, but was able to use the back-up generator.

Power is off in East Gippsland townships including Mallacoota, Genoa and Cann River with businesses and residents wanting to know timelines of when power will be restored, according to Gippsland East MP Tim Bull.

“We’ve got a lot of businesses wanting to know when the power will be back on and I’ve got some frustration with the levels of detail in the communication provided by AusNet,” he said.