Telstra has announced an assistance package for its residential and small business customers in Tathra who have lost services due to bushfires.
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Telstra Area General Manager Chris said the bushfires are affecting a number of Telstra services, with the assistance package designed to provide customers with access to free and interim services during the recovery period.
“We understand how important it is to reach out to friends and family during these situations and we want to do what we can to help our customers connect.
“The assistance package is designed to provide customers with a range of interim services in addition to providing the wider community with free calls through our payphones in the area.
“Our teams are also working to restore impacted services as quickly as possible. In some cases, adverse conditions are preventing us from reaching some areas but we will attend as soon as it’s safe to do so.” he said.
Customer who have had to evacuate their home or have lost their home are encouraged to call Telstra on 132 203 (then enter their full home phone including area code when prompted) to report a fault and register for the assistance package if they have had to evacuate their home or have lost their home.
Telstra's relief packages can include the following:
Short term measures (for Telstra customers who have a short term impact – temporary evacuation of premises or temporary fault):
- Free use of Telstra public payphones in in Tathra, Tanja, Bermagui and Bega
- Free call diversion from an affected fixed home or business phone service to another fixed or mobile service of the customer's choice, regardless of the carrier
- Customers who use the free call diversion to divert their affected fixed home or business phone to their Telstra mobile service, can also make local and STD® calls on their mobile at fixed line rates, in accordance with their selected plan (limited to one designated Telstra mobile per affected household or business).
The above offers are applicable until network damage in the area due to bushfires is repaired, or while customers remain evacuated, for a maximum period of three months from the date of the bushfires.
Affected Telstra mobile customers who do not have a Telstra home phone can receive a one-off credit to the value of $100 inc. GST (limited to one mobile phone per Telstra mobile account).
Long term measures (for Telstra customers who have suffered severe damage to or loss of their premises):
Fixed services
Cancellation of a Telstra fixed phone service at the affected address, with number reservation for up to 12 months from the date of the bushfires.
- Free call diversion from the customer’s Telstra fixed phone service to another Australian fixed or mobile service of their choice, regardless of the carrier. This offer is applicable for a maximum period of 6 months from the date of the bushfires.
- Customers who use the free call diversion service to divert their affected Telstra fixed phone service to their Telstra mobile service, can also make local and STD® calls from that mobile service at fixed line rates, in accordance with their selected plan (limited to one designated Telstra mobile diversion per affected Telstra fixed phone account).
- In addition, Telstra will apply a one off credit to the value of $500 inc. GST to the customer’s Telstra fixed phone account to help cover the costs of the following, if required:
- Connection of a Telstra fixed phone service at one temporary residence
- Re-connection of a Telstra fixed phone service at the customer’s original permanent premises
BigPond® services
- For Telstra residential and small business customers who do not wish to retain their BigPond service at an affected address:
- Disconnection of the affected BigPond service without the requirement to pay any applicable early termination charges or fees, as well as an email address reservation for up to 12 months from the date of the bushfire
- Connection of a BigPond service at an alternate residential or business address without any connection charges within a 12 month period beginning from the date of the bushfires.
- For Telstra residential and small business customers who wish to retain their BigPond service at a temporary alternate address, Telstra will apply a one off credit to the value of $110 inc. GST to the customer’s account to help cover the costs of the following:
- Move of a BigPond service to a temporary alternate address
- Move of a BigPond service back to the customer’s original address.
- For existing Telstra Mobile Broadband residential and small business customers – free replacement of the modem or USB device if required.
- Affected customers should call Telstra on 132 203 (then enter their full home phone including area code when prompted) to report a fault on their services and/ or to register for the assistance package offers.
