Telstra has denied there are problems with its mobile network in Bingara, despite another Christmas period marked by service outages and an upgrade promised before Christmas once again failing to materialise.
Just as it did at Easter, Telstra has delivered more gaslighting rather than a reliable mobile phone service under the Christmas tree, leaving residents, businesses and visitors without dependable connectivity during one of the busiest times of the year. It follows a transmission issue that caused an outage that lasted 5 days earlier this month.
The loss of service has raised concerns about public safety, business disruption and the ability to contact emergency services.
“That Telstra boss said it would be updated by Christmas for our mobile service, it wasn’t, he should be sacked,” said local Warren Grover in a Bingara facebook group.
“What if people need to phone ambulance this morning?”
But despite the widespread reports of issues with the service in Bingara, a Telstra spokesperson said the company could not see any problems at its Bingara site.
“We checked our mobile site at Bingara and couldn’t see any issues, but have performed restarts as a precaution. We’re monitoring them both and everything looks good,” the spokesperson said.
“We’re in touch with the Gwydir Shire Council to look into any specific customer issues that have been raised with them.”
After receiving the statement from Telstra, a number of locals confirmed to New England Times their phones were still not working.
Telstra also confirmed that the upgrade to the tower in Bingara which was identified has having a significant power supply issue six months ago was not completed by Christmas as promised.
“We remain on track to upgrade our site in Bingara to increase capacity, as well as deliver 5G to the town for the first time,” the spokesperson said.
“We’d hoped to have it complete prior to Christmas, but some unforeseen circumstances unfortunately pushed it out slightly.
“We expect to have the upgrade complete and the site running better than ever early 2026.”
Gwydir Shire Mayor Tiffany Galvin has rejected suggestions circulating in the community that the outages are a council issue, describing the situation as a federal telecommunications failure.
“I want to be very clear — this is not a Council issue,” Cr Galvin said.
She said she was notified of the outage and had also become aware of messages suggesting council was not doing its job.
“I am constantly advocating on behalf of our community,” she said, noting she raised the issue in November at the Country Mayors Association of NSW conference in Parliament House, where she highlighted the serious safety risks of not being able to call 000 in an emergency.
Mayor Galvin said she had attempted to contact Telstra and the local federal member without success, but had spoken with Brendan Moylan, who also attempted to contact Telstra on the community’s behalf.
“This is a Federal telecommunications issue, not a State or Council matter,” she said.
Gwydir Shire Council has continued its longer-term work on improving connectivity across the shire. Council has developed a formal Connectivity Plan in collaboration with Telstra, focusing on addressing mobile congestion, blackspots, infrastructure resilience and backup power, as well as exploring mobile, NBN, satellite and emerging technologies.
Mayor Galvin said Council will continue advocating to all levels of government.
“Reliable phone service is not a luxury — it is essential for safety, business, and everyday life,” Mayor Galvin said.
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