Cable pit promise
Telstra has pledged to fix a broken inspection pit containing phone cables, which 84-year-old Hedland resident Ian Halliday claims causes his phone line to crackle when it rains.
Located at the front of Mr Halliday's South Hedland home, the pit's concrete casing has cracked, exposing bundles of cables encased in plastic.
Mr Halliday said he had complained about the pit and his phone line since the middle of last year and even asked Labor Member for Mining and Pastoral Stephen Dawson for help in lobbying Telstra.
"My phone plays up (when it rains), I get very poor quality reception at times, it goes out and I can hardly hear," he said.
"I'm 84 years of age, I live alone and I need a landline for safety purposes."
Mr Halliday said about two years ago he collapsed in his home, but managed to call the ambulance and spent 12 days in hospital.
"If the phone hadn't been working I might have been in dire straits," he said.
"Apart from that, I pay line rental … (in order) for them to maintain the line … (and at the moment, the cables are) open to vandalism."
A Telstra spokesman denied the broken inspection pit was affecting Mr Halliday's services and said the company had only been made aware of the issue in November.
"The pit damage is not affecting local services," he said.
"We have made this repair a priority and the pit will be replaced as soon as possible with the assistance of the specialist contractors," he said.
He said the hold-up was because of the risk of asbestos.
"Because the pit is non-plastic, it will be treated as though it may be constructed of asbestos-containing cement," he said.
"In accordance with Telstra's guidelines, non-plastic pits can only be removed by contractors holding a class-B asbestos removal licence."
"Unfortunately, there are a limited number of these contractors available in the area"
