Telstra technical faults cripple the Kimberley

Kimberley businesses and residents were left disconnected over the weekend, as two technical faults caused outages across the region.

Network equipment faults at a Telstra facility near Eighty Mile Beach at 1pm on Saturday interrupted mobile and broadband customers from Broome, Derby, Fitzroy Crossing, Halls Creek, Kununurra and Ellendale.

Internet, mobile, landline and EFTPOS facilities were unavailable and several ATMs impacted, leaving businesses around town at a standstill.

Although service was restored by 6pm, a second outage occurred just over 24-hours later at the same facility, which impacted “similar areas.”

The outage was fixed by 1am this morning.

It is understood that more than 3000 landlines and 40 mobile base stations were impacted.

Telstra area general manager Boyd Brown said although the outage occurred at the same facility, it was “coincidental and not directly related.”

“We apologise for any inconvenience during this interruption and thank everyone for their patience,” he said.

The company urges anyone with continued connection issues to contact 132 200 to register a fault.