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  • 7 weeks ago
For more than two months the remote Top End community of Wadeye has largely been without mobile coverage after the area’s Telstra towers had been damaged in recent flooding. With many unable to call emergency services for help some have switched to expensive satellite services to stay connected. A local not-for-profit says it is concerned vulnerable people may be signing up to a subscription they cannot afford.

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00:02When Rebecca Bundig sees violence on the streets of Wadair, the mother of three says she's unable to call for
00:08help.
00:09We don't feel safe walking around without no service in Wadair and we can't call police or emblem.
00:21For nine weeks, the community 400 kilometres southwest of Darwin has been without Telstra services.
00:28The telecommunications giant blaming the intermittent outage on prolonged flooding.
00:33Following questions from the ABC, Telstra confirmed its technicians had been able to restore services using generators on Friday, but
00:42it was short-lived.
00:44Now it's playing up again, coming back on and going back off.
00:50Telstra maintains its satellite services are unaffected, but locals are calling on the company to do more.
00:57If this was happening in an urban area or a major city centre, this would just not be tolerated for
01:03more than two days.
01:04We've had zero communication from Telstra about what's happening.
01:07We don't understand why mobile satellite towers haven't been deployed.
01:11In a statement to the ABC, a spokesperson for the Federal Communications Minister said the department understands natural disasters can
01:19make access to sites difficult and it expects telcos to work with communities to restore service as quickly as they
01:26can.
01:27With residents growing impatient, some have resorted to taking out plans with Elon Musk's Starlink.
01:33The Tamara Development Corporation believes new subscribers have signed up for as little as $19.
01:39They say vulnerable people are unaware of the ongoing costs, with some plans fetching up to $139 a month.
01:48Countrymen can't afford on that. And also, when does Telstra come back on, what's going to happen then?
01:55The ABC has contacted Starlink for comment.
01:58This is presentation.
01:59L rosy made.
02:00You
02:02A
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