The network is still significantly affected by ongoing power issues in areas of the city and physical disruption caused by Tuesday’s earthquake.

Our focus remains on restoring and maintaining mobile cell sites in the CBD. All central city cell sites that are operational have been connected to generators to keep them running. We are also deploying technicians from around New Zealand to assist in the restoration of telecommunication services in the Canterbury region.

Telecom is delivering a further 33 generators from around the country with assistance from the New Zealand Air Force. These are due to arrive in Christchurch shortly to assist cell sites that are still without mains power.

Telecom is running a campaign to collect analogue landline phones from around the country to distribute to people in Christchurch without power who only have cordless landline phones which are reliant on power. These ‘old fashioned’ corded analogue phones plug straight into a jack-point and don’t require mains power. We are asking people to drop spare analogue phones in to any Telecom store during retail opening hours. These phones will be distributed to those in need in Christchurch.

111 services are operating smoothly and emergency services are steady.

REQUEST FROM CHORUS:

Chorus has asked Canterbury residents who are experiencing disruption to their landline or broadband service, to contact the company that provides their internet and phone services directly to log a fault. This will help Chorus to ascertain the true extent of network damage, enabling them to restore service as quickly as possible.

ADVICE FOR PEOPLE IN CHRISTCHURCH:

We recommend people change their voicemail message to let callers know the time, date and their location and, if possible, alternate contact details to provide some reassurance should mobile phone batteries go flat given the difficulties with power supply.

Our advice remains to minimise use of mobile phones, and for people to use text messages instead of calls when possible to free up the network for emergency response workers and to minimise the drain on backup batteries and generators.

People without power in their homes will not be able to use cordless landline phones, as base stations require power. If customers have corded landline phones that plug directly into the wall and do not require power, they should use them instead.

For residents of Christchurch, 260 payphones in and around Christchurch are enabled with free calling for local, national and mobile calls.

Telecom has also made three WiFi Hotspots in Christchurch available for free. These WiFi sites are at Telecom Riccarton Mall, Café Zero (Cashmere Rd), and the Westpac Centre (Addington).

Telecom Retail customers can get their Telecom landline number diverted to another Telecom landline number for free. To enable this, residential customers can call us on 120 and business customers can call us on 125.

Customers with friends or family with a prepaid Telecom mobile can call 0800 32 32 32 and top up their prepaid credit on their behalf.

For previous updates, please go to: http://www.telecom-media.co.nz/

ENDS

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