Disruptions caused by two separate cuts to two of the three cables connecting Tasmania to the mainland.
Tasmania has been hit by a “major statewide outage” which is affecting internet and phone services across the state.
The network fault is affecting Telstra, Optus and Aussie Broadband customers, along with those of other providers.
Public utility agency TasNetworks reported on Facebook the issue had been caused by “upstream provider issues” and its own website is down on Tuesday afternoon which began around 1pm
Tasmanian Networks Pty Limited, trading as TasNetworks, is a Tasmanian Government State owned company that is responsible for electricity transmission and distribution throughout Tasmania. It also owns and operates a telecommunications network throughout the state
“TasNetworks external website has been impacted and is currently unavailable as a result,” the message said.
One of the cuts is on the Victorian end, and the other on the Tasmanian side.
Telstra said the Victorian cut to the cable appeared to be due to civil works earlier today.
“Some connectivity is back, but some ISPs (internet service providers) are still down, so some customers will still not be able to access our external website,” TasNetworks said.
The National Broadband Network has acknowledged the “outage in Tasmania which may be impacting some of our services”.
Telstra has tweeted it is aware of the issue “impacting mobile and internet services in Tasmania and are urgently working to investigate and resolve the issue”.
Shortly before 4pm, Telstra was still yet to say when services would be restored.
Basslink, the Tasmania to Victoria electricity connector, confirmed its power cable was operating “as per normal”.
The ABC reported financial services including EFTPOS have also been impacted
EFTPOS and banking services have also been affected, with some people caught off guard and unable to pay for goods and services. Banks have closed in Hobart’s CBD. Some stores continued to operate accepting cash only.
Other businesses appear to remain unaffected and say their EFTPOS is still working.
NBN Australia also confirmed in a statement that it has technical problems in the island state.
Optus, meanwhile, referred customers to its service status page. A quick search for “Tasmania” confirmed that Optus customers were also affected by an outage. The note from Optus reads: “Sorry, the Optus network in this area is currently impacted.
Our network team is working to resolve a transmission issue affecting the Optus network in this area. We will update any progress here. Your service may be interrupted during this time. We will let you know when everything is back to normal.”
Telstra Tweeted an update.
⚠️If you’re having an issue with your mobile or home broadband in TAS, our team are on to it. We know this isn’t news you want to hear on a Tuesday afternoon, but we’re working to get it fixed ASAP. We’ll keep you across updates here as we have them.
— Telstra (@Telstra) March 1, 2022Aussie Broadband also shared on Twitter
There is currently an internet outage affecting us, and most ISP's, within Tasmania– we do apologise that this has occurred. Technicians are investigating but we don’t have an ETA yet, we will update you when we have any further information. pic.twitter.com/bosAd4s80I
— Aussie Broadband (@Aussie_BB) March 1, 2022Aussie said technicians are investigating the failure across Tasmania, but they gave no false hope, telling customers that there was no ETA when services resumed.
Tasmania’s northeastern and upper east coast regions experience widespread flooding which may also affect this service.
TasNetworks has reported that services were being “progressively restored” across the state, but some internet service providers (ISPs) were still down.
