Telstra COVID-19 update for regional Australia

In these unprecedented times, keeping you updated on Telstra’s response is very important to us. 

 

While the health crisis is front of mind for everyone, we want to reassure customers in rural and regional Australia that we also recognise many people are still recovering from devastating bushfires, and are dealing with prolonged drought. We will continue to help communities overcome these challenges at the same time as taking the following actions in relation to  COVID-19 (Coronavirus).

Image: Chris Taylor,
Telstra Regional General Manager,
ACT and Southern NSW

Network capacity is ready to manage demand.
Telstra’s resilient networks are designed to manage surges in demand. We have planned for different scenarios and are confident we can manage significant increase in network traffic as a result of people being at home, although speeds may sometimes be slower than usual. Plans are in place for all our operations and if necessary, we can also prioritise critical communications such as those related to emergency services.  Read more

More data for customers and unlimited home phone calls for pensioners.
Telstra consumer and small business customers will be given additional data and pensioners will get unlimited home phone calls.    Read More

Service disruptions for customers
People are experiencing delays getting through to our customer service team and getting some issues fixed, due to the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on our teams and partners in Australia and around the globe. We are prioritising our customer service activities toward maintaining critical services and keeping vulnerable customers connected.   Read More on our blog dated 24 March

Longer call centre wait times but regional call centre continuing to operate. 
There will be longer wait times for customers contacting us via phone or online messaging but our regional call centre continues to operate.     Read More on our blog dated 19 March

New procedures to keep our people and customers safe.                                         
We have implemented new procedures to ensure the wellbeing of our people and customers.  Read More

Tips to make your work-from-home experience easier.   
We’ve been working flexibly at Telstra for a while and have rounded up five great tips from our team that might make your experience easier.     Read More

Enable your remote workforce with a free Telstra Virtual Meeting Room.   
We're offering a free Virtual Meeting Room (VMR) service to Australian businesses until 30 June 2020.   Access this offer

Telstra has also announced that we are taking decisive steps to support our people, customers, suppliers and partners. We will:

  • Recruit 1,000 more call centre contractors in Australia
  • Allocate $500 million to increase network capacity and 5G rollout
  • Offer bill relief for small business and consumer customers
  • Extend partner sponsorships that expire this year for another 12 months

For up-to-date information about COVID-19 please visit the Federal Department of Health’s website.

We will continue to update you on Telstra's COVID-19 developments through Telstra Exchange.

Chris Taylor
Regional General Manager,  ACT and Southern NSW