Fibre cut in Auckland CBD might not be fixed until 4pm today

Image / 123rf

Chorus says a fibre issue in the Auckland CBD - which the Herald understands is an accidental cut - might not be fixed until 4pm today, 24 hours after it was first reported.

Around 4pm yesterday, multiple businesses around the Auckland CBD, including Herald publisher NZME, experienced broadband outages or intermittent service. With interruptions continuing, NZME switched to a secondary provider mid-evening.

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The chief information officer of one of the affected companies told the Herald, "What's concerning is that this is a repeat of the same issue we and thousands of other customers experienced on March 19. That outage lasted for 15 hours."

Chorus runs the UFB fibre network used by retail internet service providers including Spark, Vodafone, Vocus (Orcon, Slingshot), 2degrees and Trustpower.

A spokesman for Chorus could not immediately comment in detail, but an outage map on the company's website (below) shows most of the central business district still subject to possible issues.

The spokesman said it was possible the issue would be fixed before the official estimated restoration time of 4.01pm today.

A spokesman for Vodafone NZ said the telco mostly uses its own fibre around the Auckland CBD, meaning its own customers were largely unaffected, and it was able to provide a fallback service for others.

A spokeswoman for Spark said the issue was currently affecting just five of the telco's customers. It was possible Chorus' outage map overplayed the extent of the impact.

Image / Chorus outages map

The incident is the latest in a series of fibre cuts.

In November last year, thousands of South Aucklanders lost power - some for up to three days - after contractors drilling under a bus lane in Mangere town centre sliced through some Chorus fibre.

And in June last year, Vodafone warned contractors to be more careful after roadworkers cut a cable near Matamata - and around the same time contractors removing trees near Napier also sliced through some fibre. The twin blunders meant thousands throughout the central North Island lost internet.

And the following month, Chorus finally fixed a bodged job - also in Mangere - that had seen bare fibre cables dangling over open footpath for months.