Basslink sets Tuesday return to service

Cable operator Basslink expects its beleaguered subsea Bass Strait cable to return to service next Tuesday, bringing an end to six months worth of work finding and reparing a cut in the interconnector.

Basslink today said it had notified the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) and Hydro Tasmania that the cable was expected to begin operating again on June 14.

The firm has completed all tests and is currently reburying the cable under the seabed, it said.

“We have been extremely satisfied with the final stages of the repair project, and all testing has shown the interconnector is ready to resume operation,” Basslink CEO Malcolm Eccles said in a statement.

Both the electricity and telecommunications components of the cable will return to service at the same time, Basslink said.

It is yet to determine the cause of the cut, which has downed electricity services since last December and telecommunications services since March; Basslink had to cut the fibre optic cable to repair the damaged parallel electricity cable.

The telecommunications providers that utilise the cable to provide services to Tasmania were forced to shift to Telstra's Bass Strait cable to continue providing internet to their customers. TPG and other affected ISPs are understood to have been paying as much as double for transmission across Bass Strait while Basslink was out of action.