Tasmanian internet connectivity hit by cable cuts

The Australian island state of Tasmania has found itself without internet connectivity on Tuesday afternoon.

At 1:38pm AEDT, TasNetworks took to Facebook to explain the issue.

“We are experiencing a major statewide internet outage caused by upstream provider issues. TasNetworks external website has been impacted and is currently unavailable as a result,” it said.

By 2:25pm AEDT, the company said some connectivity was being restored, but a number of ISPs were still down.

Telstra said it believed the outage was due to two separate cable cuts on the main routes to the island.

“One cable has been cut during civil works and the other cable is fairly remote and techs have just arrived on site to assess the impact,” a spokesperson said.

“There is an impact to fixed and mobile data, some voice calls will be getting through and there is no impact to Triple Zero services.”

Meanwhile on the mainland, Queensland and New South Wales are continuing to deal with the impact of recent heavy rains and subsequent flooding events.

“Optus' network operations team are monitoring our networks to ensure continuity of services and connectivity for customers. We currently have over 100 sites impacted which may result in some network congestion,” a spokesperson said.

“Due to a major NBN outage, a number of our NBN customers will be without services to the home while NBN work to bring their network back online.”

The company added it had closed 10 stores in Queensland and three in NSW today.

Telstra said it was working with power and local authorities to restore services to affected areas, and was offering an assistance package to those displaced which includes 25GB of data over 30 days, as well as call diversion from a fixed line. 

Updated at 15.12pm AEDT, 1 March 2022: Additional information on floods.

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