Phone, broadband restored for most South Islanders

Flooded roads and internet outages have hit Rangitata (pictured) and many other areas of the South Island. Photo / Supplied

3.45pm: Chorus says technicians have now replaced a section of damaged fibre near Arundel that saw broadband and phone service lost to thousands of customers around Ashburton and Geraldine.

About 80 customers remain without telecommunications services due to separate weather related issues and work continues to restore their connections, the network operator says.

At the height of the weekend's storms and slips, more than 4000 suffered outages.

A second damaged stretch of fibre optic cable, located on the Rangitata Bridge on SH1, remains inaccessible. Water is still flowing over the road. A full assessment of the damage to this fibre cable will be completed once the water subsides.

As previously reported, on the West Coast, a land slip has resulted in a number of power poles being displaced with Chorus fibre attached to these poles. About 112 homes are without telecommunications services in the township of Fox Glacier. The electricity provider in the area is in the process of carrying out work to reinstate its network and then Chorus will be able to restore services.

10.00am: Chorus says around 3000 homes and businesses around Ashburton and Geraldine remain without broadband or phone after the weekend's wild weather.

The network provider plans to have services restored to the two South Island towns by the end of today.

A spokesman says the only other area still affected by outages is Fox Glacier, where around 100 customers face an uncertain timeframe. A land slip has resulted in a number of power poles being displaced with Chorus fibre attached to these poles.

Technicians are currently at Arundel, north of Geraldine, replacing a section of damaged fibre. They plan to lay a temporary cable to allow services to be restored more quickly. Once that is completed, a permanent fix will be worked on.

There is a second damaged fibre located at the Rangitata Bridge on State Highway 1. This cable is damaged in multiple locations but due to water still flowing over the road a full assessment cannot be completed. Once the water subsides, a more detailed assessment will be undertaken.

8.10am Network provider Chorus says thousands of customers remain without broadband or landline phones after the wild weather that swept through the South Island over the weekend.

On the West Coast, a landslip has resulted in a number of power poles being displaced with Chorus fibre attached to these poles.

"We believe there is approximately 1km of damaged fibre. The electricity provider in the area is in the process of investigating and technicians are on standby ready to start repairs when able to do so. The Fox Glacier area remains isolated," a Chorus spokesman said.

"On the East Coast, technicians have made use of all spare fibre capacity available to restore some services, though approximately 3600 homes and businesses may still be without broadband or phone."

Access to the damaged fibre locations has now been granted by civil defence and work is underway to ascertain the extent of the damage to the fibre cables.

Earlier, Chorus said the main areas impacted were in Geraldine and Ashburton.

Chorus is easily the largest network operator, providing service to retail telcos like Spark, Vodafone, Orcon and Slingshot, and backhaul for many cellphone towers that link them to the main network.

Late yesterday, Spark said "almost all of the impacted South Island broadband, mobile and landline services have now been restored. This has been achieved by a work-around using spare fibre strands and additional cables."

But a spokeswoman added, "Unfortunately, due to extreme weather conditions resulting in flooding and slips in the area, both damaged fibre sites are still inaccessible and the timeline to restore these will depend on accessibility. "