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 restoredin 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 Highway3," saidAndrew Anderson, director of communications forNorthwestel.

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

Anderson would not say who the third party is anddid 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 8:40p.m. Northwestelannounced all telecommunications services in the Yellowknife area fullyrestored. During the disruption, Northwestel saidit was able to divertsome traffic to backup microwave and satellite networks.

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