Telecom currently has the following actions under way in response to the Christchurch earthquake

Telecom

Telecom has established the 'Big Telecom Whip Around' fund for staff, to enable Telecom people in New Zealand and Australia to support the people of Christchurch. Every dollar collected will be matched by Telecom and be donated to the official Mayoral Fund.

Telecom has made 300 payphones in and around Christchurch free for local, national and mobile calls. Around 6,000 calls have been made since Sunday, which adds up to over 15,000 minutes of calling. About 70% of calls have been to mobile phones and, of the calls made to landlines, around half are being made within the Canterbury region.

Telecom WiFi hotspots across Christchurch are also free, enabling people without internet access to use free wireless broadband.

Telecom is also providing free call diverts for its retail customers who are unable to use their home phones, and has provided practical information for customers on how to check and restore their telecommunications services through local press and radio.

Telecom is also providing all practical means of support to its nearly 1500 people based in Christchurch, including housing assistance, counselling and support, paid leave and provision of home security.

Telecom contact centres in other parts of the country, including Wellington and Hamilton, have taken over managing calls usually dealt with by Christchurch-based contact centres.

Telecom is supporting the Red Cross 0900 appeal. So far over $48,820 has been raised.

Telecom has ensured all Civil Defence social assistance sites have telecommunications service since Saturday, for example through the provision of temporary mobile sites.

Chorus

Telecom's network business, Chorus, has brought in 100 additional technicians, engineers and managers from around the country to help with ongoing restoration work and investigation of over 1300 network sites.

Chorus will be using letterbox drops to provide updates and information to those customers who are still without phone and broadband services.

Chorus is making good progress repairing cable faults, having already fixed over 40 damaged cables damaged by seismic activity since Saturday. Work is currently under way on a further 40 cables.

Chorus is currently looking into 400 individual customer-reported faults in the wider Christchurch area. Chorus has just over 163,000 access lines into households, businesses and other premises across the region.

Chorus is providing free mobile phones for people without service who need a phone service for medical reasons. Chorus is also working with Civil Defence, local authorities and service providers to prioritise medical-related faults.

Gen-i

Gen-i has shipped additional IT equipment to Christchurch and is now holding three times normal stock levels to help restore ICT services for clients.

Gen-i continues to provide close support to its infrastructure and government clients, including the Ministry of Social Development, to ensure they have the telecommunications and IT systems they require to do what they need to do.

Gen-i is also working closely with banking and insurance providers as well as construction firms, to support rebuild and recovery activities across Canterbury.