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Telstra assistance package for Queensland customers affected by Tropical Cyclone Yasi
Telstra is offering an assistance package for its residential and small business customers across Queensland* who have been evacuated from their homes or whose phone services have been affected by Tropical Cyclone Yasi.
Under Telstra’s assistance package, Telstra offers customers who report a temporary loss of their Telstra service due to natural disaster:
- Free call diversion from their fixed service to a fixed or mobile service of their choice;
- For Telstra customers who have diverted their fixed line phone to their Telstra mobile, mobile calls charged at home line rates as per their selected HomeLine® plan for local and STD calls (limited to one designated Telstra mobile per affected household or business);
The package also includes:
- Cancellation of a Telstra fixed phone service at existing premises or business with free number re-direction for three months and number reservation to be provided up to 12 months;
- Free connection of a Telstra fixed phone service at one residence or business within a twelve-month period beginning from the date of the disaster;
- Cancellation of a BigPond® service at existing premises or business with free email address reservation to be provided for three months;
- Free reconnection of a BigPond® service at one residence or business within a twelve-month period beginning from the date of the disaster; and
- Telstra mobile customers who do not have a fixed line will receive a one off credit to the value of $50.00, limited to one mobile phone per household or business.
- Telstra is also offering free Microsoft software for affected businesses in Queensland. For more information businesses should contact their Telstra Account Executive or call 1300 13 66 77.
Telstra Corporate Affairs Manager for Queensland, Elouise Campion, said Telstra technicians continue to work to fully recover all communications services impacted by the Tropical Cyclone Yasi.
“We are working hard to restore services to affected areas of the state and have hundreds of technicians mobilised from across Australia to assist. Some areas are still unsafe to access but we are monitoring and will restore them as soon as possible.
“One of the biggest issues we’re facing is the recovery of the loss of mains power. In some cases we simply cannot gain access to sites and will have to wait until we can safely access some parts of the network,” said Ms Campion.
Ms Campion encouraged customers to call Telstra on 13 22 03 to report a fault and register for the assistance package if their phone service had been affected by Tropical Cyclone Yasi.
“We are experiencing an increase in the number of customers who have problems with their fixed phone line because of Cyclone Yasi and while we are maximising the use of people in our call centres, there may be some delays when calling to report a fault.
“We also understand that some customers may experience financial hardship as a result of Tropical Cyclone Yasi. Telstra will offer extended payment arrangements for these customers if they call Telstra on 1800 816 025.
“We want all effected people to know that Telstra has a range of options to help them maintain connection to their telecommunications services through these difficult times.
“We ask our customers to be patient during this time, and assure them we are doing everything we can to get them back online as quickly as possible,” she said.
*Local Government Areas: Burdekin, Burke, Cairns, Carpentaria, Cassowary Coast, Charters Towers, Cloncurry, Cook, Croydon, Doomadgee, Etheridge, Flinders, Hinchinbrook, Hope Vale, Mackay, McKinlay, Mt Isa, Palm Island, Richmond, Tablelands, Townsville, Whitsunday, Wujal Wujal, and Yarrabah.
Reference Number: 036/2011
