Wild weather has hit Aotearoa hard this autumn, with Cyclone Tam striking over Easter and a severe southerly storm bringing the strongest wind in over a decade to the Wellington region just a few weeks later.

Downer’s Telco technicians have been busy on the ground across the North Island in the wake of the storms, supporting communities by restoring vital connectivity. By deploying and refuelling generators, we’ve helped keep telecommunications sites operational for customers including One NZ, Spark and Rural Connectivity Group (RCG).

Just as communities rely on mains power, cell towers across the country also rely on power from the grid, meaning when power is out to customers, it’s also often out for the mobile network. This means we need to work closely with both telcos and power companies to identify issues and resolve them as quickly as possible, using back up batteries or generators when the power supply is disrupted.

With flooding, high river levels, and slips blocking access to sites, our teams’ expertise and safety focus have been put to full use on behalf of our customers.

In one case at an RCG site at White Rock in the Wairarapa region, the only way to reach the site was by helicopter, provided by Downer subcontractor Kapiti Heliworx.

David Wallis, Downer’s GM for Telco NZ, says that as we face more and more significant weather events, it’s crucial for people to be able to communicate.

“Storms can be a concerning time for people, who might be worrying about staying safe, their property being damaged and their ability to move around their community. We’re focussed on being there for our communities – the team has a laser focus on keeping people connected and able to stay in touch with friends, family and emergency services when it matters the most.

“This was all managed in parallel to a number of critical faults our teams needed to address safely and quickly. From equipment faults to an accidental major cable cutting, it’s certainly been an enormous effort for our NZ Telco teams up and down the country.

“I’d like to thank everyone who has stepped up without hesitation, working through weekends and public holidays in difficult conditions to restore essential network services for our customers across affected parts of New Zealand. They’ve really brought the Downer Difference.”

By working closely with our other critical infrastructure sector partners, understanding their risks and how they will respond, we can all work together to support each other and keep the lights on in times of crisis.

The details:

• More than 200 sites impacted by two storm events, across networks in Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Wellington and Wairarapa
• Over 80 Downer and subcontractor project office and field personnel deployed across the events to keep New Zealand fully connected.