Telstra rushes to replace 200m of cable in Sydney dug up by someone silly

Telstra is rushing to replace 200m of cable damaged by a third party in Sydney on April 3^rd.

New details of the issue have emerged.

For starters, the incident involves two cables, not one!

Secondly, and despite CRN’s previous correspondence with Telstra mentioning a cut in Chatswood, the carrier has now told us the cut is in the Sydney suburb of Ermington (which has a Victoria Road, hence the confusion with Chatswood’s Victoria Avenue).

Telstra told us that “Complete restoration to the services on the first damaged cable was completed today [Friday, April 5^th] at 12.15PM Eastern Standard Time.”

That fix means all bar 30 customers have voice and data connections again.

But the second cable is a bigger job. Telstra told us that its “work crews are currently replacing approximately 200 metres of cable to resolve this issue.”

The scale of that effort means the carrier told CRN “An estimated completion time is not known at this time but Telstra will be working as quickly as possible to progressively restore services to these affected customers.”

It is unclear why Telstra needs to replace 200 metres of cable, but the fact such a substantial replacement is needed suggests the damage is so significant that permit splicing alone won’t suffice.

Nor has any information emerged regarding the identity of whoever managed to damage the cable. CRN understands roadworks were a factor in the incident and that it won’t be long before sternly-worded letters about the situation reach those responsible.

UPDATE, Sunday, April 7th, 15:00: CRN understands the work is still not complete at the time of writing, and that a Sunday night splicing effort is anticipated. Residential users have contacted CRN to complain that Telstra has shared little information about the outage, or a timetable for repairs.