Internet service fully restored after Northwestel repairs damaged fibre optic cable west of Yellowknife

Northwestel is reporting internet, telecom and cellphone service have been fully restored in the Yellowknife region, including Behchoko, after disruptions Tuesday afternoon that began at approximately 1 p.m.

"We can confirm there was damage to our fibre infrastructure along Highway 3," said Andrew Anderson, director of communications for Northwestel.

"This damage was caused, it seems, by a third party."

Anderson would not say who the third party is and did not provide details of how the line was damaged. 

Cellphone, long-distance phone, internet and television service were all disrupted, although local calling, including to local emergency services, were generally unaffected.

At 8:40 p.m. Northwestel announced all telecommunications services in the Yellowknife area fully restored. During the disruption, Northwestel said it was able to divert some traffic to backup microwave and satellite networks.

Anderson said the company will conduct an investigation to determine what went wrong and what can be done in the future to prevent similar outages.