Vodafone NZ essential workers will be having some more late nights this week to reinforce an essential fibre cable that connects a large number of South Island households to the internet.

The fibre cable was originally damaged in the Kaikoura earthquake and has been repaired and maintained by network engineers ever since. Recent road works in the area has caused some new damage that needs to be repaired before winter rain and bad weather sets in.

Tony Baird, Vodafone NZ Wholesale & Infrastructure Director explains: “This week we’ll be working with key partners to undertake overnight essential remedial work we want to finish by Easter, before expected autumn storms and eventually winter rain sets in.

“While we have a number of internet fall backs in place for network resilience, if you compare the internet to roading infrastructure, this fibre cable is essentially a section of one of our state highways for the South Island.

“During the remedial work some households may see reduced speeds or intermittent drop in connections while we divert internet traffic via other routes – but the repairs will take place overnight from midnight to 6am so we expect the disruption will be minimal. We apologise in advance if anyone is impacted.”

Vodafone is working alongside industry stakeholders and in conjunction with a range of government agencies to keep New Zealand customers connected during COVID-19 lockdown and beyond.