Aussie telcos scramble to repair flood damage

Australian operators are still grappling with the damage caused by weeks of flooding in the state of Queensland.

 

The latest companies to feel the strain include Vodafone Australia, which yesterday lost mobile services in several parts of Queensland including the Brisbane CBD for several hours.

 

The disruption was caused by flood damage to its exchange facility in Coorparoo, a Vodafone spokesperson said. Services went down at around 10am Queensland time, and were restored as of 1:45.

 

The equipment damage was the latest in a line of bad news for the operator, which is already facing the prospect of a class-action lawsuit over allegations of poor network quality, and a state investigation into its private data handling practices.

 

Rival Optus yesterday warned that some of its own mobile sites are at risk of going down due to power outages. The company's mobile towers in one region are running on battery power, and the floods are too extreme to install portable generators, Optus said, making service interruption likely.