Telstra outage hits thousands of customers in Sydney’s CBD

Thousands of homes and businesses around Sydney’s CBD are without phone, internet and mobile connections this morning after a contractor accidently cut through a crucial Telstra cable during excavation works.

According to reports, the contractor cut through at least 10 Telstra fibre-optic and copper cables near the corner of York and Erskine streets about 9.30pm last night.

The disruption has mainly affected mobile and fixed line services, although some mobile services have also been cut as cables connecting mobile towers have been severed.

Telstra has crews working on the problem, but a spokesman has told the Sydney Morning Herald that services will not be restored for at least 24 hours and full services may not be restored for up to a week.

“We have our technicians on the scene at the moment, assessing the extent of the damage and planning urgent repair work,” a Telstra spokesperson told AAP.

“Obviously we are concerned because of the CBD impact.”