MELBOURNE AND SURROUNDING DISTRICT

CUSTOMER SERVICE ADVICE FROM OPTUS

Severe Weather events impact service in Metropolitan Melbourne and part of the Central District of Victoria.

Optus is working to manage the significant impact to Optus services that has occurred as a result of a series of extreme weather events in Metropolitan Melbourne and part of the Central District of Victoria on or about Thursday 5 November 2015.

Due to the effect of damage to the telecommunications network by severe thunderstorms, there has been a significant increase in the number of Optus services being reported as faulty. As a result, there has been some disruption to service and delays to normal installation and repair activities. Optus apologises to any affected customers.

Information as to the nature of these severe weather events can be sourced from the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM). Very heavy rainfall, large hail and damaging winds are referred to in the BOM Severe Weather Warning issued for 5 November 2015 initially at 2:01 pm Thursday, 5 November 2015; all of which were widely reported in the news media after the events.

Optus has identified that the effect of these circumstances may apply to approximately 3,675 services. Some of these services may not be installed or repaired within Optus's standard time frames. The number of possibly affected services may increase or decrease as Optus assesses the full effect of the extreme weather conditions. Based on current information, the resumption date of Optus's normal service operations is expected to be 6 December 2015. This date is indicative only, however, and may be subject to change once the full impact of the extreme weather conditions has been assessed.

Optus regrets any inconvenience caused to customers and thanks them for their patience while this work is being undertaken.

Optus services encompassed in this exemption are in the area bounded by and including, but is not limited to, the area starting at Chelsea following the coastline of Port Phillip Bay past Sandringham to Elwood then north to the Yarra River and following the Yarra River westerly to Hobsons Bay. From Hobsons Bay the area follows the coastline past Williamstown, Pt Wilson, Geelong, Queenscliff, Torquay to Aireys Inlet. The area turns inland heading northwest past Winchelsea to Wingeel, northeast past Ballan to Woodend then southeast past Darraweit Guim, Upper Plenty and Kinglake West to McMahons Creek. From McMahons Creek the area heads southwest past Powelltown to Tonimbuk, west to Beaconsfield Upper, southwest to Carrum Downs then northwest back to Chelsea. All suburbs, towns, off shore islands and coastal areas serviced by Optus within these boundaries are encompassed in this exemption.

Services in the area mentioned above with phone numbers in the following number ranges may have been affected:

As these circumstances were outside of Optus's control, Optus is claiming an exemption from compliance with time frames and performance standards required under the Telecommunications (Customer Service Guarantee) Standard 2011. Therefore Optus is notifying customers that normal installation and repair time frames may not be met during the period from 6 November 2015 to 6 December 2015 inclusive (based on Optus’s estimated recovery schedule correct at the time of publication of this notice) and, under section 21 of the Telecommunications (Customer Service Guarantee) Standard 2011, Optus will be exempt from complying with performance standards during this period.

If you have any questions regarding your eligibility for a CSG payment under this notice, or wish to have us reconsider whether the circumstances were a proper basis for claiming an exemption, you can contact Optus on 13 39 37 - quoting CSG exemption reference number 06112015-VIC-S-C-P-MELBOURNE AND SURROUNDING DISTRICT_RUL

You can also view a copy of this notice on our Internet site www.optus.com.au/msd. If, after calling Optus on the above number, you remain unsatisfied with our response to your query, you have the option of raising the matter with the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO).Information on the TIO and contact details are available on the Internet (www.tio.com.au) and in the White Pages® telephone directory.