By Andrew Bates, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Telegraph-Journal
A telephone outage that affected approximately 500 customers in the Nackawic area, allegedly due to a copper theft, has been resolved, according to the province.
The New Brunswick Emergency Measures Organization said in a social media post Saturday, Aug. 23, just after 2:30 p.m., that it had received reports of a telecommunications disruption in the region of Nackawic, a town west of Fredericton. The post warned that emergency calls may not work for affected Bell landline or cell customers.
Bell spokesperson David Marcille said Saturday evening that the company’s technicians “have been prioritizing repairs in the Nackawic area following a copper theft incident that disrupted service.”
Marcille said approximately 500 customers were affected.
“Crews are working diligently to restore service before the end of the day,” he wrote in the email. “We appreciate the community’s patience and understanding.”
In a second post at 9:26 p.m., EMO stated that it had confirmed Bell service had been reestablished. The outage was fixed as of 6:10 p.m., Marcille said Sunday, Aug. 24.
Keswick RCMP Sgt. André Lauzon said the RCMP is investigating after three spans of copper wire were cut Saturday at 2 a.m.
The outage resulted in approximately $10,000 in damage and “negatively impacted internet access, radio and cell phone communications,” Lauzon said in an email Friday.
Marcille said Bell has called on the federal government to “strengthen laws against infrastructure theft.”
“On our end, we’ve implemented alarm systems that alert police in case of sabotage, increased deployment of security personnel and surveillance cameras, and are working closely with law enforcement to pursue legal action against offenders,” Marcille said.
