Keeping paradise connected with the outside world
Filed under: Cocos Islands, networks, satellite dish, technology
It’s not often I get the chance to talk about what I do in Telstra because my job is to make sure that Telstra’s networks run smoothly and seamlessly.
Everyone expects that when they need to make a call, send an email or connect to the internet that the network will just – well, work! Let’s face it, maintaining a network is not that exciting – until there is a problem.
However, a reliable network requires regular maintenance and ongoing upgrades – work that can involve months of careful planning – and this is what my team does so well.
Recently, we were involved in the replacement of a 7.3 metre-wide antenna (satellite dish) which connects 600 residents on the Cocos Islands to the rest of the world.
The Cocos Islands are some 2,750kms from the Australian mainland and this antenna is their only source of convenient and immediate communication.
The antenna was over 30-years old and reports from our regular maintenance inspections indicated it was starting to rust and needed to be replaced.
If a severe tropical storm occurred, a rusted and weakened antenna could twist out of shape, or worse, parts could tear away. With a regular shipping service going to the island only once a month, a replacement antenna and the restoration of services could take weeks.
While redundancy is built into the equipment in the antenna’s system, there’s no backup for the actual antenna, which is a critical piece of infrastructure. Its failure would result in a loss of communications for the whole Cocos Islands.
Without so much as a hardware shop on the Islands every single piece of equipment required to replace the antenna – down to the last nut and bolt – had to be ordered and delivered in advance.
Nothing could be left to chance, so planning included a reconnaissance trip to the location. We had to be sure that everything was in order and every technical detail had been considered – from the suitability of the existing concrete foundation to fencing and signage.
Once all the preparatory work had been completed, including shipping in the parts, we handed the job over to Telstra’s Network Construction who sent their team in to complete the installation.
We’re proud that after months of careful planning we have successfully completed the replacement of the antenna, thus helping the 600 local residents on the Cocos Islands to continue to receive reliable telecommunications services for many years to come.
That’s an excellent post David. I liked it very much. Being worked in remote areas as a part of UN assignments in the past, I could relate to your story and undertsand the value Core Networks BU provides. It is a very well written piece and touches the core-point of the value proposition T&R E provides. I like your heading to include the word ‘paradise’, which reminds us about the movie “The Dish, a 2000 Australian film that tells the story of how the Parkes Observatory was used to relay the live television of man’s first steps on the moon, during the Apollo 11 mission in 1969.” So ‘the Dish’ did take us to paradisal space.
Thanks again for a wonderful piece. Look forward to more pieces from you in the blog.
Regards
Having recently worked on the islands for a few days I absolutely fell in love with this place. It’s just stunning and the people are terrific.
I used to sit just inside an office that overlooks that dish thinking to myself without this, they lose all contact to the world, and wondering how isolated they’d feel.
What would really impress me would be setting up a Next G tower, I can only imagine the cost and logistics involved getting that setup in such a remote location.
Great work guys!