UPDATED:  Two men have been arrested and have appeared in court for the alleged theft of the three emergency TelstraClear generators in Christchurch, the New Zealand Herald reported this morning.

The three generators power roadside cabinets that each feed up to 500 landline and broadband customers.  Spokesperson for TelstraClear David Courtney said the generators also re-charged the batteries of the cabinets, and that while he could not be sure whether the cabinets have lost power, the thieves put about three neighbourhoods at risk of losing landline and broadband services from Wednesday night onwards.  Landline service in particular were critical, he said. 

The theft was "very frustrating" but TelstraClear continues to try and source other generators and Mr Courtney was unsure as to whether the three cabinets now have mains or generator power.  

However he reported that one was returned last night, which was great news.  "Every generator helps," he said, since TelstraClear still have a number of sites without power.  He said he had heard of the arrests but had no further information.

The Herald reported the men were arrested last night and appeared in court this morning.  They have been remanded without bail until they reappear in court on March 28.

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Three TelstraClear generators in Christchurch had been stolen over night, knocking out landline and broadband services to hundreds of customers.

Spokesperson David Courtney said the generators were powering road side cabinets that fed up to 500 TelstraClear landline and broadband customers for each cabinet. He said the company all ready had about 20 cabinets out when engineers assessed the network this morning and the theft will "potentially affect hundreds of people as they will not have any fixed-line services".

The generators' loss would mean that those customers connected to the three cabinets would lose service as the battery power ran down.   He said it was "very frustrating" since telecommunications was a "critical service" at such a time.

TelstraClear was already concentrating on sourcing more generators and replacing the three stolen would become a part of this effort.  The company would also start to look at ways to keep the generators more secure.

All the major phone companies have been flying extra generators into the quake-hit city to power celltowers and other telecommunications infrastructure. Telecom has flown in 33, with help from the Air Force.

NBR will update when further information is available.

Police say that overall "looting has been minimal".

Below: People react to the news on Twitter (click to zoom).