Telstra today announced an assistance package for its residential and small business customers in and around Carnarvon, Coral Bay, Exmouth and Denham who have lost services as a result of the impact caused by Tropical Cyclone Olwyn.

Telstra's relief packages are determined by the nature and scale of the specific event and can include short and long term measures with call diversions being established, credits and replacement of faulty equipment for those customers with BigPond® Services.

Telstra Area General Manager Tony Carmichael said there had been damage to Telstra’s infrastructure in these four towns which had impacted on fixed line and ADSL coverage in the area.

He said Telstra apologises for any inconvenience to our customers and wishes to assure them that we are doing everything we can to get them re-connected as soon as possible.

“We understand this is a terrible time for anyone who has been affected by the cyclone and hopefully this assistance package will help people as they work through this crisis,” he said.

Mr Carmichael encouraged customers to call Telstra on 13 2203 to report a fault and register for the assistance package.

The packages include:

Short term measures (for Telstra customers who have a short term impact – temporary evacuation of premises or temporary fault)

• Free call diversion from an affected Telstra fixed phone service to another Australian fixed or mobile service of the customer's choice, regardless of the carrier
• Customers who use the free call diversion service to divert their affected Telstra fixed phone service to their Telstra mobile service, can also make local and STD® calls from that mobile service at fixed line rates, in accordance with their selected Home Phone or Business plan (limited to one designated Telstra mobile diversion per affected Telstra fixed phone account)

The above offers are applicable until network damage in the area due to the natural disaster is repaired, or while customers remain evacuated, for a maximum period of 3 months from the date of the natural disaster.
• Affected Telstra mobile customers who do not have a home phone can receive a one off credit to the value of $100.00 inc. GST (limited to one mobile phone per Telstra mobile account)


Long term measures (for Telstra customers who have suffered severe damage to or loss of their premises}

Fixed Services
• Cancellation of a Telstra fixed phone service at the affected address, with free number reservation for up to 12 months from the date of the natural disaster
• Free call diversion from the customer’s Telstra fixed phone service to another Australian fixed or mobile service of their choice, regardless of the carrier. This offer is applicable for a maximum period of 6 months from the date of the natural disaster.
• Customers who use the free call diversion service to divert their affected Telstra fixed phone service to their Telstra mobile service, can also make local and STD® calls from that mobile service at fixed line rates, in accordance with their selected Home Phone or Business plan (limited to one designated Telstra mobile diversion per affected Telstra fixed phone account)
• In addition, Telstra will apply a one off credit to the value of $500 inc. GST to the customer’s Telstra fixed phone account to help cover the costs of the following, if required:
o Connection of a Telstra fixed phone service at one temporary residence
o Re-connection of a Telstra fixed phone service at the customer’s original permanent premises
o Number reservation
o Additional call charges

BigPond® Services
• For Telstra residential and small business customers who do not wish to retain their BigPond service at an affected address:
o disconnection of the affected BigPond service without the requirement to pay any applicable early termination charges or fees, as well as an email address reservation for up to 12 months from the date of the natural disaster
o connection of a BigPond service at an alternate residential or business address without any connection charges within a 12 month period beginning from the date of the natural disaster
• For Telstra residential and small business customers who wish to retain their BigPond service at a temporary alternate address, Telstra will apply a one off credit to the value of $110 inc. GST to the customer’s account to help cover the costs of the following:
o Move of a BigPond service to a temporary alternate address
o Move of a BigPond service back to the customer’s original address
• For existing Telstra Mobile Broadband residential and small business customers – free replacement of the modem or USB device if required


Affected customers should call Telstra on 132 203 (press option 1 and enter their full home phone including area code) to report a fault on their services and/ or to register for the assistance package offers.