Australians affected by last week’s Telstra outage will be able to apply for compensation from the telecoms company.
The outage affected phone calls to customers, stopped some public transport services and affected the payment system used by about 80,000 businesses as of last Wednesday.
Telstra chief financial officer Michael Acland during a press conference about the blackout. Age
The company later determined that the source of the problem was a software issue.
Telstra chief financial officer Michael Acland apologized to customers and the wider community for the disruption.
“We know how much you rely on our network for work, travel and security,” Eklund said.
“We take this responsibility very seriously.”
Customers and small businesses who suffered losses during the outage can apply for compensation from the telecom company.
“We need evidence to support your claim and will ask you to provide it in response to this email,” Ackland said.
Customers can provide evidence such as error messages or speed tests.
Small business customers will need to provide evidence to support their claims, including point of sale records, EFTPOS transaction records, booking records, invoices or order records, accounting reports or comparable sales records from previous Wednesdays.
“Once your complaint is filed, you will receive an email from your case manager,” Eklund said.
“Providing a clear description of the consequences, the estimated amount of your claim and supporting documentation will help us evaluate your claim more effectively.
“We may contact you by telephone to discuss further evidence required or to clarify your application if we need to.”
Eklund also urged customers to be vigilant about scams after a power outage.
“We have seen reports of scammers calling customers claiming to be from Telstra and trying to take advantage of the power outage,” he said.
“If you receive a call from someone claiming to be from Telstra asking for your details in relation to a power outage, hang up and call us directly.
“Our teams are working as quickly as possible to resolve any remaining issues.”