Telstra's fibre optic cable from Palm Beach on Sydney's northern beaches to the Queensland border has been fully restored, a day after thousands of customers were left stranded by a cable slicing.
It was a chaotic night for telco crews who worked around the clock to restore Internet, telephone and data services to thousands of people after the eastern seaboard cable was accidently sliced by a contractor.
All optical fibres within the cable were re-connected by one o'clock Friday afternoon.
Technicians were able to re-route telecommunications traffic to other exchanges in the towns of Grafton, Coffs Harbour, Gosford, Wyong and parts of Newcastle to ensuring isolated communities were progressively reconnected.
Telstra crews had to replace 1.5 kilometres of cable and reconnect every individual fibre optic wire within it - about 150 strands in total.
The wrecked cable disconnected landlines and Internet and data services between Palm Beach and Queensland. Mobile phone services in the area were congested.
The telco says it is impossible to tell how many customers were hit by the mishap.
"A full investigation is underway," a Telstra spokesperson said. "Any business or company seeking compensation can call our customer service centre on 13 22 00 and we'll send them out a compensation pack so they can assess their eligibility [to make a claim]," he added.
