Telstra crews have deployed a temporary 4G solution in Candelo after vandals reportedly damaged the local mobile tower last week.
The telecommunications tower was significantly damaged in what a Telstra spokesperson said appeared to have been a deliberate act of vandalism on Friday (April 26) which has been impacting mobile coverage for customers in the area since.
South Coast Police told ARN they were notified of damage to the telecommunications tower servicing the Candelo area and are currently investigating the matter.
A Telstra cell tower in Mullumbimby, in northern NSW was deliberately set on fire back in 2022 (pictured above) although it is unlikely these incidents are linked.
For the people of Candelo, calls and texts are now available, while mobile data is slower than usual.
Landlines, nbn and other broadband services in the area have not been impacted.
Telstra Regional General Manager, Chris Taylor, said a full repair of the damaged site may take up to a month, with residents urged to use Wi-Fi calling.
“Telstra crews have delivered a temporary connectivity solution for customers in Candelo after our base station was vandalised causing significant infrastructure damage and affecting mobile coverage in the area since last week,” Taylor said.
“We’ve optimised nearby Telstra towers to help offer some overlapping coverage and yesterday, we installed a short-term fix that will provide customers in Candelo with some 4G coverage,” he went on.
“The temporary coverage will mean customers in town should be able to make and receive calls and texts, however until the mobile site is replaced, some areas might still be patchy, and we expect mobile data to be slow.
“Our team continue to work on replacing the mobile site as quickly as possible, however due to the severity of the damage, it may take at least a month.
“We apologise for the inconvenience and understand how frustrating this is for the community.”
Until the mobile base station is replaced, residents with access to a Wi-Fi signal can activate Wi-Fi calling. This is a free setting on most popular mobile phones and allows your mobile to use a Wi-Fi network to make and receive mobile calls when in range of the modem and works during an outage.
“Calls to Triple Zero, landlines, mobile coverage from other providers and nbn and other broadband services should not be impacted,” Taylor said.
“Vandalism like this not only inconvenience local residents, but it also poses a potential safety threat for vulnerable customers or people with a medical condition if they lose connectivity.”
“We continue to work with police to investigate what happened and encourage anyone who saw any suspicious activity in the area to contact Crime Stoppers (1800 333 000).”
“For the latest information, we encourage customers to check the Telstra Outages page.”
Images: Telstra, Mullumbimby Fire & Rescue NSW
