Service returns after vandalism leaves Calgary neighbourhoods without TV, internet or home phone service

CBC
·1 min read
A suspected copper wire theft incident left thousands of Rogers Communications customers in parts of Calgary without TV, home phone and internet services. (Aaron Vincent Elkaim/The Canadian Press - image credit)
A suspected copper wire theft incident left thousands of Rogers Communications customers in parts of Calgary without TV, home phone and internet services. (Aaron Vincent Elkaim/The Canadian Press - image credit)

A second outage in nearly as many weeks left roughly 5,000 cable customers without TV, internet or home phone services for several hours on Tuesday.

Rogers Communications spokesperson Cam Gordon said in a statement that the outage, first posted at 5:20 a.m., was the result of a "fibre cut caused by vandalism and suspected theft of copper wire."

In an update shortly before 5 p.m., the company said all services were fully restored.

The company apologized for the interruption. It noted that outages due to vandalism can also take three to four times longer to repair than others due to the extent of damage and associated repairs.

Earlier this month, another incident left around 15,000 Rogers/Shaw customers without service. Rogers completed its purchase of Shaw Communications last year.

The communities affected by the outage included Balmoral, Brentwood, Bridgeland - Riverside, Capitol Hill, Charleswood, Collingwood, Crescent Heights, Hillhurst, Mayfair, Mountview, Mount Pleasant, North Haven, Renfrew, Rosemont, Sunnyside and Tuxedo Park.