An Optus spokesperson said:
- Optus continues to work closely with the relevant authorities to restore mobile services as quickly as possible to the affected areas of Kinglake, Gippsland and Marysville to Alexandra
- As at Wednesday 11 February 2009 eleven Optus mobile base stations remain out of service in the bushfire affected areas of Victoria
- Wherever possible at sites where service is disrupted we have deployed more mobile base stations and refuelled generators to continue service until technicians are able to restore a permanent service
- The following sites have been restored on generators until mains power is available – Kinglake, Mt St Leonard, Mt Caroline, Colobinae and Kilmore
- Optus is currently investigating deploying an interim satellite solution in the next 24 – 48 hours to further aid mobile service restoration in the Glendale, Flowerdale, Buxton, Taggerty and Yarck areas. Mobile infrastructure in these areas has either been damaged or is not able to be accessed due to ongoing fire activity
- Yesterday afternoon Optus added five additional transceivers to the Whittlesea base station, servicing the Kinglake area and doubling the capacity in the main staging post for the recovery effort
- A further eight transceivers have been added to the adjacent site at Yan Yean to further boost capacity
- Optus continues to assist our customers on the ground with access to prepaid mobile phones, a generator to assist charging mobile phones and a supply of different brand mobile phone chargers to give away
- Optus staff, to assist our customers, are at the following locations of Whittlesea Community Centre, Yes Optus Traralgon and Sound on Wheels premium dealer in Morwell and plans are in place to assist customers in Yea and Alexandra, once access is granted by authorities
- To assist our customers who have lost property as a result of the bushfires, we will be "zerobilling" all their services for up to three months effective immediately
- Additionally, we will be offering free Mobile Prepaid handsets with $1000 value to Optus customers who have had either their Fixed or Mobile service disrupted
- Customers should call 1300 300 937 for further assistance.
Media contact: Simone Bergholcs Optus Corporate Affairs Tel: (02) 8082 7850
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