Telco, NBN failures during bushfire crisis reveals cracks in regional, rural crisis coverage

As fire rushed towards Moruya Heads on the NSW South Coast on New Year's Eve, Fiona Whitelaw and her family were relying on a wind change to save their house. Key points: Residents whose communications were cut off during the bushfire crisis say infrastructure is not up to scratch One expert says the fires should serve as a wake-up call to the Federal Government Telstra says it will examine ways to improve its network's resilience Unsure when it would arrive, they were continuously monitoring weather and fire information — but then mobile coverage, the National Broadband Network and the local ABC radio transmitter all dropped out. "The main thing that would help would be, if there's existing copper line communication, just leave it there," Ms Whitelaw said. Emergency telecommunications plan Telecommunications analyst Paul Budde said the bushfire crisis was a wake-up call for the Federal Government to act. "What you need is a national emergency telecommunications plan — get our telecommunications companies together and then we can find solutions," Mr Budde said.