A mobile phone tower in suburban Launceston has been severely damaged by strong winds this week.
Telstra say a fallen tree damaged their mobile base station near the Silverdome in Prospect, impacting mobile coverage in the area.
Telstra Regional General Manager Tasmania Michael Patterson said that while most areas have overlapping mobile coverage, some places may notice slower speeds and reduced coverage.
“We have a number of mobile base stations working nearby so there is overlapping mobile coverage, but customers may notice slower speeds and reduced coverage in some places,” he told Pulse.
“Residents can improve their mobile coverage by using their nbn connection to access Wi-Fi calling.”
It is understood the tower at Prospect is one of the only mobile phone towers physically damaged during the storm, while dozens of others were taken off-air by mains power outages.
Telstra says it is continuing to make good progress restoring sites affected by ongoing power outages, with more than 90% of impacted mobile sites now back online.
According to the company, around 1,600 landline phone and internet services remain disrupted as of Wednesday morning.
“Almost all of the impacted sites have been in northern Tasmania or King Island,” Telstra Regional Engagement Manager Marc Brown said.
“We’ve restored a significant number of mobile sites, with more than 90% of our affected mobile base stations now back online.”
“Our technicians across the state are continuing to work to restore services as quickly as possible, when it is safe to do so.”
