RCMP in the Northwest Territories say communications services have been disrupted across the territory, which could affect calls to 9-1-1 or local detachments.
In a news release on Wednesday afternoon, RCMP said cellphone, long-distance calling, and landline services were either down or operating intermittently, affecting Yellowknife and most NWT communities.
The Town of Inuvik similarly issued a public notice about landline outages, advising residents to contact RCMP at (867) 620-0423 and the fire department at (867) 678-5378 in case of an emergency.
In Yellowknife, multiple businesses reported problems with their phone lines throughout Wednesday afternoon.
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A representative for Northwestel said in a statement on Thursday morning that around 3:30pm on Wednesday, a fibre cable was damaged in a “remote part” of Northern BC where road construction was taking place. This impacted internet, long-distance phone and television services in the Yukon and parts of northern BC; long-distance phone services in the NWT and Nunavut; and internet service in Ulukhaktok.
Northwestel said technicians travelled to the impacted area and were able to restore the connection early on Thursday morning.
On Monday, Northwestel told Cabin Radio there had been a separate disruption to broadband services in several satellite-served NWT communities. Service was restored by around 3:30pm that day.
