Telstra has repaired a fibre cable that appeared to have been severed by a lightning strike on a cable pit east of Orange in regional NSW.
The telco posted an image to its Twitter account showing the pit and surrounding area blackened and smouldering.
"There is significant fire damage consistent with a lightning strike," the telco said.
It apologised for the interruption to services and said it had restored the cable by 11.30am.
The cut occurred at 2.05am this morning.
“Routers impacted by the cable cut were restored about 4:50am today and services progressively returned to normal,” Telstra said.
The cut initially caused problems for mobile voice calls in NSW, Victoria, South Australia and Queensland, but the main impact throughout the morning was felt by Triple 0.
Problems with Triple 0 calls were experienced in NSW, Victoria and Western Australia, the telco said.
"E000 services are returning to normal," the telco said in a revised statement.
"We're working with emergency services and our government and enterprise customers to manage any residual issues."
