The maintenance backlog across Telstra’s 100-year-old copper network has reached crisis point over Christmas and January with no end in sight.
“Maintenance and waiting time figures obtained by the CEPU and published today show Telstra’s chronic underinvestment in maintenance and repairs is catching up with them,” said Communication Electrical Plumbing Union (CEPU) NSW/ACT Assistant Secretary Shane Murphy
“Over the past eight weeks we have seen faults and waiting times blow out.
“Newtown was among the worst impacted suburbs with 618 households and business left without landline or internet connection last week.
“Overall, some 20,000 NSW Telstra customers have been without Telephone or Internet services for many weeks as the Telstra Copper Network fails due a chronic underinvestment in network maintenance
“There are thousands of plastic bags holding cable joints together and thousands of cables laying bare with wires exposed in pits and manholes across the country, ” he said.
Communication Electrical Plumbing Union (CEPU) NSW/ACT Assistant Secretary Shane Murphy said the company’s attack on its technicians working conditions is having a severe impact on customer service
“This is bad for families, bad for businesses and bad for our hardworking members who’d rather do the job right once.
“Our Telstra field workers are fed up with not being able to provide a decent and permanent repair to Telstra customers with many members reporting of having to return to the same customer job due to the poor state of the Copper Network.
“There is a huge backlog of faults in the system that customers are waiting to be fixed, This is the same plastic bagged Copper Network Abbott & Turnbull now call the NBN.
“It’s a fraud. Australia was promised an NBN of fiber and speed. Turnbull’s copper is made of plastic bag’s and Telstra’s greed.
“Today I’m calling on Telstra to put on the resources to clear this backlog. Our members are ready to work and do the job right. Telstra’s customers deserve better,” Mr Murphy said.
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