Telecoms outage in N.W.T. affecting some phone services across North
Northwestel says internet and TV service is down in several N.W.T. communities, and phone service is congested across the North.
The telecommunications disruption began around 1 p.m. on Friday. Yellowknife, Behchokǫ̀, Whati and Fort Providence, N.W.T., are all without internet or TV services, the company says.
Phone and cellular services were working, but Northwestel says the system is heavily congested across the North. That means some long-distance and toll free calls may not go through.
The company suspects it's been caused by damage to the fibre infrastructure.
Northwestel says crews are working to fix the problem but customers could expect to be without some services for several hours.
A spokesperson at Yellowknife city hall said the outage was expected to last four to six hours. Staff at the N.W.T. government have been given similar information.
RCMP in N.W.T. confirmed the outage is affecting their work. People in need of police service are encouraged to visit their local detachment.
Yukon RCMP also said Friday afternoon that 911 calls were not reaching them, and that long distance calls were also affected. They advised any Yukoners in need of police service to call their local detachment directly.
Staff at Stanton Territorial Hospital in Yellowknife confirmed the emergency room is open as usual.
The outage is affecting the CBC N.W.T. newsroom.
Instead of this evening's edition of Northbeat, viewers will instead see the supper-hour news from Edmonton.
Igalaaq viewers will instead see the supper-hour show from Ottawa.
