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Severed cable on croc farm triggers prolonged Telstra outage

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A telco declined to work on a crocodile farm at night after phone services were cut from Darwin's rural area on a public holiday weekend.

Key points:
  • Much of Darwin's rural area was without phone services on Cup weekend after a fibre optic cable was damaged on a crocodile farm
  • Workers usually carry out repairs in the night, but not in the vicinity of crocodiles
  • A Telstra manager says he doubts a croc caused the damage

    • Telstra Northern Australia manager Nic Danks said while it was unlikely a crocodile severed the cable at Darwin Crocodile Farm, 30km southeast of Darwin, their presence caused a delay in repair works.

    "Somebody cut the fibre at a crocodile farm at Noonamah in two places," he said.

    "The first cut we managed to get repaired on Saturday.

    "The second cut we couldn't do until Sunday because they couldn't get access to it at nighttime and there were crocodiles out there.

    "Normally when we have fibre cuts we work 24 hours, but because of crocodiles we couldn't do that, so we did it only in daytime hours.

    Dry ground showing a plastic pipe broken and a blue cable exposed.Dry ground showing a plastic pipe broken and a blue cable exposed. The crocodile threat delayed the repair job.(

    Supplied: Telstra

    )

    "It wasn't a failure of the system â€" someone didn't dial before they dug.

    "We're not saying it was the croc farm that actually did it.

    "It was on their land but we're still investigating who did it."

    rural work site showing a snapped cable with a digger and a truck in the background.rural work site showing a snapped cable with a digger and a truck in the background. Plant equipment and the broken fibre optic cable on a crocodile farm in Darwin's rural area.(

    Supplied: Telstra

    )Large scale outage

    The delicate fibre optic cable was buried about half a metre underground.

    "I wouldn't have thought a croc could dig that far underground, but we're investigating," Mr Danks said.

    A dark-haired man wearing alight-coloured shirt stands against a wall, smiling.A dark-haired man wearing alight-coloured shirt stands against a wall, smiling. Mr Danks says he doubts a croc would be able to dig as far down as the cable.(

    Supplied: Telstra

    )

    Mobile services to Noonamah, Berry Springs, Coolalinga, Humpty Doo, Hughes, Livingstone, Bradshaw Ridge, Coomalie, and Batchelor were affected from about 9:30am on Saturday.

    Some were not able to be restored until Sunday afternoon.

    Telstra's mobile towers are connected by underground fibre to improve service.

    Repairing fibre optic cable requires specialist tools and expertise.

    Almost 500 landlines were also without service.

    There are several crocodile farms in the Top End's rural area.

    Darwin Crocodile Farm was contacted for comment and said it was investigating.

    The farm is home to tens of thousands of crocodiles.

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