Colville Lake's long distance phone service not working properly

Long distance telephone service to Colville Lake, N.W.T., is on the fritz, leaving the remote community without a reliable way to call out for emergency services.

The local band manager says the community has experienced intermittent long distance service all week.

Mark Koepke, manager of external communications withNorthwestel, said the company is aware of the problem.

"We believe we have identified a fix for the hardware and a technician will arrive in the community next week, Monday, I believe, to replace that hardware," he said.

Koepkesays internet connections have not been affected.

Colville Lake does not have cellular phone service, but the health centre does have a satellite phone.

The community has a population of 157, according to 2012 numbers from the N.W.T. Bureau of Statistics, and is 165 kilometres by winter road from Fort Good Hope.