A Telstra exchange was damaged by fire last week when a vacant house next door went up in flames in the New South Wales town of Somerton, some 35KM north-west of Tamworth

The damage was enough to impact approximately 300 home phone and broadband services, with Telstra enabling a mobile exchange to get residents back up and running as quickly as possible why they repair the damaged telephone exchange.

Telephone exchanges being damaged to this extent doesn’t appear to be a regular occurrence in Australia, however reports from The Register over the recent years seems to suggest that BT (British Telecom) have had their fair share of telephone exchange issues with thefts and fires being the main concerns.