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Basslink says cable repairs won't be done until June

Tasmania to remain backward and isolated as 'leccy and data link needs three joints

Tasmania's long-suffering electricity and Internet users – in other words, nearly everyone – will have to wait until mid-June for a fix to the Basslink power and optical fibre cables.

The company has announced (PDF) that it's pinpointed the fault on its electricity cables, just 1,150 metres from where it cut the cable for investigation.

That, the company says, is a miss of less than 0.4 per cent of the total cable length.

However, the fault (which is still under investigation) has done so much damage that the electricity cable will need three joints to return to operation.

“The degree of water ingress into the cable through the fault has resulted in more damaged cable that needs to be replaced, which will see a third joint required on the cable”, the statement says.

“In simple terms, water got in an damaged the cable – this now need to be removed. Consequently, an additional mobilisation phase is required in Geelong to restock the vessel with cable to complete the jointing phase to connect the additional replacement cable”.

That, plus the need for a stretch of clear weather to conduct repair operations, lies behind the company's conservative estimate of a repair date.

The cable ship Ile de Ré is on its way back to Geelong for 10 days' preparation for the jointing work.

Because the Basslink optical fibre cable was laid alongside the electrical cable, it had to be cut for repairs to begin. This has left subscribers on TPG's iiNet and Internode complaining about slow connection speeds.

The extended repair time will sting Basslink badly, since it's already stated that the Ile de Ré costs AU$100,000 a day. ®

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