Optus may pay compensation to companies hit by Qld phone outage

Optus says it will consider compensation for businesses affected by an accident that cut landline, mobile and internet phone connections to Queensland yesterday.

Optus says it will consider compensation for businesses affected by an accident that cut landline, mobile and internet phone connections to Queensland yesterday.

The outage started 7.53am AEST yesterday, when a fibre optic cable was broken on the Gold Coast by a contractor installing a water pipe. Landline, mobile and some internet services were cut until the fault was fixed at noon AEST, although there were reports of disruptions throughout the day.

An Optus spokesman told The Courier-Mail newspaper that the telco giant was happy to hear from business customers who feel they have suffered financial losses as a result of the outage. “We will work directly with our customers regarding compensation and we will look at it on a case-by-case basis,” he told the paper.

The contractor responsible for the accident could also face a fine or legal action.

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said she was “alarmed” by the impact of the outage and will be talking to the Federal Minister for Communications about the incident.

“I think Queenslanders and, frankly, Australians, are entitled to expect a telecommunications network that can withstand one cable cut,” she told reporters.

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