A spokesperson for the company told ZDNet Australia today the fire had affected the network services of an estimated 25 percent of its 20,000 customers throughout the Australian Capital Territory (ACT).
TransACT corporate communications manager, Geoff Harris, said the company expected a significant proportion of its customer base to regain service once power was restored later today, but some areas in which fibre-optic cable and nodes had been destroyed might be without service for a "considerable" length of time.
The telecommunications provider said it was having trouble assessing the full extent of the damage to its network as police were treating fire-damaged areas as crime scenes, turning away TransACT's field technical crews.
But the police are not the only obstacles to restoring service in the areas, says Harris.
"The crews may be going into areas where they could be treading round the last remains of people's homes -- we're going to be very sensitive about the way we go about that," he said.
TransACT is also consulting with energy supplier ACTEWAGL to assess the state of its network services. According to TransACT, ACTEWAGL, which provides power for the service provider's equipment, lost 500 poles to fire over the weekend.
TransACT has posted a detailed list of areas in which its services have been affected by the fires on its Web site. The company has listed the suburbs of Curtin, Lyons, Garran, Hughes, Weston, Rivett, Stirling, Holder, Duffy, Fisher, Chapman and Warramanga as the suburbs in which its services have been damaged most severely.
Other suburbs where impact on the company's service had been more moderate included the location of the Prime Minister's Canberra residence, Yarralumla.
The carrier is offering a free phone diversion service for customers that have lost their homes in the disaster.
" Other suburbs where impact on the company's service had been more moderate included the location of the Prime Minister's Canberra residence, Yarralumla."
He doesnt even live there, yet know what the internet or transact is. the pm doesnt have the guts to publically display an email addr. the recent bushfires are unfortunately another media picture opportunity like iraq is. IT unemployment is guesstimated at 30% and all the aus public hear is how good outsourcing is from federal sycophants, undoubtably given a few bones from eds, csc, etc....