Telus restores service after cable theft caused outage in northwest B.C.

Telus says internet, cell, TV and phone service has been restored across northwest British Columbia after a service outage caused by damage to its fibre infrastructure. The outage began shortly after 1 p.m. on Sunday and affected communities from Fraser Lake to Terrace, including Smithers, Prince Rupert, Kitimat, Haida Gwaii and Bella Bella. Telus said crews repaired the damaged fibre and restored service to most customers before midnight. The company said the damage was caused by cable theft in the Mount Hayes area along Highway 16 and that it is working with RCMP on the investigation. During the outage, emergency roaming and wireless fallback systems helped some customers make calls and reach 911.