TWO NEW high-powered Telstra generators are being rolled out to Inverell and Armidale to bolster connectivity during natural disasters.
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The upgraded power backup technology will help residents and businesses affected by disaster reconnect and recover quicker, Telstra regional general manager Michael Marom said.
"Extended power outages are often a major cause of our network going down," Mr Marom said.
"The quicker our network sites are powered up, the quicker we can reconnect a community."
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The upgrades are a multi-million dollar co-investment between Telstra and the federal government's Strengthening Telecommunications Against Natural Disasters program.
"These high-powered [generators] provide extra support in regional areas recently affected by bushfires or at risk of natural disasters and will help restore power to affected sites and help improve telecommunications resilience," Mr Marom said.
The upgrades follow a number of other natural disaster initiatives from Telstra including:
- Granting 100GB of extra data for customers on mobile plans in disaster affected areas, so they don't have to apply during a difficult time;
- Testing emergency roaming, for people to use any available mobile network during natural disasters;
- Deploying more technicians and specialised disaster assistance agents who help reconnect customers and communities quicker. Customers can call the Telstra Response Team on 1800 888 888.
- Trialling portable satellite technology that can be quickly deployed to evacuation centres or town centres to provide basic connectivity if both fixed and mobile connections are down in a disaster area.
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