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Tassie broadband users get June reboot date

Basslink hopes 90 TONNE cable patch can be finished if the seas stay calm

The end is in sight for Tasmania's long-running submarine cable saga, with Basslink announcing its cables should return to service in June.

The island state's approaching a power crisis, because drought has emptied its hydro-electric dams, and the broken cable prevents it importing power from the mainland. To make the difficult repair to the huge electricity cable, Basslink also had to cut the submarine fibre optic cable that provided one of only two data links to the island, leaving just Telstra's cable in place.

In an update (PDF) posted on Friday, the company said its planned June return-to-service remains on track.

CEO Malcolm Eccles described the work being undertaken by cable ship the Ile de Re: “While in Geelong, the team unloaded more than 84 tonnes of damaged cable, prepared the vessel to receive the 90 tonne cable reel, loaded additional cable and specialist equipment, and changed over some crew members."

The ship is now using remote underwater vessels (RUVs) to survey the seabed, prior to installing a 240 metre “bight” of cable that will replace the broken cable segment.

The ship will attach the first joint, then make one more return trip to Geelong to load the remaining spare cable.

“Once all three joints have been completed, Basslink will lay the cable back in the existing trench where possible, and natural seabed movement will bury the cable over the coming months. Where this is not possible, Basslink will use a jetting process to excavate the seabed under the cable, after which it will sink into the sediment,” the statement notes.

The biggest threat to the timetable is the weather, since rough sea can damage the cable. Each joint needs a window of six days of relatively calm seas, the statement notes. ®

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