https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2020-01-13/are-australias-telecommunication-up-to-the-new-kind-of-megafire/11860238
> Telco, NBN failures during bushfire crisis reveals cracks in regional, rural > crisis coverage > > By national regional and rural reporter Jess Davis > > Posted about an hour ago > > Moruya residents were left without mobile and internet coverage on New Year's > Eve as fire spread. > (AP: Rick Rycroft) > As fire rushed towards Moruya Heads on the NSW South Coast on New Year's Eve, > Fiona Whitelaw and her family were relying on a wind change to save their > house. > > Key points: > > • Residents whose communications were cut off during the bushfire > crisis say infrastructure is not up to scratch > • One expert says the fires should serve as a wake-up call to the > Federal Government > • Telstra says it will examine ways to improve its network's resilience > Unsure when it would arrive, they were continuously monitoring weather and > fire information — but then mobile coverage, the National Broadband Network > (NBN) and the local ABC radio transmitter all dropped out. > > The only communication the Whitelaws had was through their landline, which > still operates through the old system of copper cables and can work without > power. > > > Moruya resident Fiona Whitelaw says copper landlines should not be cut off as > part of the NBN rollout. > "I think when it was all happening we were just so terrified," Ms Whitelaw > said. > "[We] put a lot of faith in the technology, and anyone that lives in regional > Australia will tell you that that's probably not worth a pinch of shit." > > If the fire had come through a month later, the copper network would have > been disconnected as part of the NBN rollout. > > "The main thing that would help would be, if there's existing copper line > communication, just leave it there," Ms Whitelaw said. > > "The cost of maintaining it can't be anywhere near the cost of losing a whole > suburb worth of houses and people and businesses." > > Emergency telecommunications plan > > Telecommunications analyst Paul Budde said the bushfire crisis was a wake-up > call for the Federal Government to act. > > He said the old copper network should remain in place, and that > telecommunications infrastructure should be buried underground. > > "What you need is a national emergency telecommunications plan — get our > telecommunications companies together and then we can find solutions," Mr > Budde said. > > "With this crisis at hand, we can get the Government to start considering > these long term options and long term funding … for communications safety in > rural and regional areas." > > The Federal Communications Minister Paul Fletcher said no system was > impervious to bushfires. > > "The existing local loop, the copper local loop is not impervious to > bushfires," he said. > > "If a bushfire goes through and power is lost to an exchange then services > will cease operating. > > "There will be detailed reviews both within the individual telcos and more > broadly as to the lessons we can learn about network resilience in the face > of severe bushfires." > > Mr Budde said there was a case for regional and rural Australia to have > fibre-optic cables. > > "While that might be cost costly … I think on the other side, the social, > economic benefits are as important, if not more important in situations like > this," he said. > > NBN bound to 'crap out' > > Amanda Leck, the director of community safety at the National Council for > Fire and Emergency Services (AFAC), said her service has been concerned about > NBN failures in a disaster situation for more than two years. > > "I think that this is a big discussion … to look at all the infrastructure > and supply chain, and effectively what needs to be hardened for future > disaster risk," Ms Leck said. > > Ms Whitelaw said she assumed the NBN would not last long in an emergency. > > "We all knew that the NBN would crap out almost immediately, and it did," she > said. > > > The South Coast region was devastated on New Year's Eve by bushfires. > > "It might be that one day the NBN's awesome and it works great, but at the > moment they just need to be realistic about the shortcomings of the > technology that we've got." > > In a statement to the ABC, the NBN said: > > "We do advise customers that their NBN service will not work in a power > outage, and it is always wise to keep mobile devices charged in the event of > an emergency." > > Mobile tower backup > > More than 100 mobile phone towers were impacted at the height of the crisis, > according to Mr Fletcher, with the majority affected by power outages. > > "In many cases, the priority was to get power back to those base stations," > the Minister said. > > "For example, by getting access to the site and being able to top up the > diesel generators with fuel." > > Mobile phone towers typically have backup battery power of about 10 hours, > but Mr Budde said that is not enough. > > "Because these are prolonged fires it's not 10 hours, it can be 10 days. So > in a situation like that you need you need backup generators," he said. > > "But then, in the case of fires, the obvious people can't get into the area > anymore. Roads are blocked, and they couldn't fill the generator." > > Mr Budde said more backup power and ability for fire crews to replenish > generators needs to be considered. > > In a statement to the ABC, Telstra it would engage with industry and > government on improving network resilience. > >> "All of our back-up power systems contain high powered batteries, with our >> larger sites including generators and batteries," the company said. >> >> "We deploy the best quality batteries with the longest capacity available in >> the telecommunications industry, however even these will run down during >> extended power outages and we are only able to replace them or refill >> generators once the authorities give us the all-clear to go into a fire zone. >> >> "With that, we are always looking at ways to improve the redundancy across >> the network, and will continue to do so throughout and post the bushfire >> recovery efforts." -- Kim Holburn IT Network & Security Consultant T: +61 2 61402408 M: +61 404072753 mailto:[email protected] aim://kimholburn skype://kholburn - PGP Public Key on request _______________________________________________ Link mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
