Covid-19 coronavirus delta outbreak: Telco industry's message for landlords, security guards

There are 21 new cases of Covid-19 in the community today, bringing the total number of people infected in the outbreak to 72. One million New Zealanders are now fully vaccinated.

At a time of record internet use (see below), a number of phone and broadband problems are not being fixed because technicians are being barred from homes or offices by well-meaning landlords or security guards, Telecommunications Carriers Forum chief executive Paul Brislen says.

In fact, telco engineers are classed as essential workers, Brislen points out (see MBIE's full list of essential worker categorieshere).

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New Zealanders are relying on telecommunications more so than ever before whether it's to keep up to date with the latest advisories or for work, education or entertainment. Telecommunications is an essential service and we're keen to keep it operating well, even as demands set new records each day.

"Currently, we're sending technicians out only for essential service work. This isn't about installing new equipment but keeping what's already deployed operational, so we would ask that techs who are needed on site be treated as the essential workers they are," says Brislen, whose group represents telcos including Chorus, Spark, Vodafone, Vocus and 2degrees.

"Our techs will be fully equipped with PPE [Personal Protective Equipment] as per official health guidelines for Level 4, so as to minimise risk to themselves and to others," Brislen adds.

Broadband record smashed, again

Meanwhile, broadband records continue to tumble, with a new peak-use high set on Chorus' network over the weekend.

Last Wednesday saw a (then) new record peak throughput of 3.6 terabits per second (Tbps), an increase of 27 per cent on Monday night's traffic and a new all-time high for the broadband provider's network.

Friday saw 3.7tbps.

Then on Saturday, the record was smashed again as traffic peaked at 3.8tbps.

Retail telcos are also reporting an ongoing surge as locked-down workers turn to Zoom and other cloud apps to keep in touch.

2degrees said its fixed data volume was 38 per cent higher on Saturday than the previous weekend.

Mobile voice traffic was 29 per cent higher than previous weekend. 2degrees said there no issues across any of it services.

While the current burst would have popped the rivets off at the time of the 2019 Rugby World Cup, when Chorus' network had a 3.5tbps ceiling, ongoing upgrades have since seen maximum peak capacity lifted to 4.5tbps.