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Shaw internet outage result of highways contractor damaging cable near Paint Lake

Thompson that began on the morning of Dec. 4 and continued overnight and into the early morning hours of Dec. 6 was caused by a private contractor damaging a Manitoba Hydro Telecom-owned cable used by Shaw.
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A highways contractor damaging a Manitoba Hydro Telecom-owned line Dec. 4 resulted in a Shaw Internet outage that has lasted more than 24 hours.

 Thompson that began on the morning of Dec. 4 and continued overnight and into the early morning hours of Dec. 6 was caused by a private contractor damaging a Manitoba Hydro Telecom-owned cable used by Shaw.

The contractor was working for the provincial highways department on a project to widen Highway 6 near Paint Lake south of Thompson when the fibre line was damaged, said Manitoba Hydro public affairs officer Bruce Owen, who said Manitoba Hydro was trying to determine if the contractor had done underground line locates prior to beginning excavation.

“Our customers in Thompson have been experiencing a loss of internet service due to inadvertent damage caused to our fibre network,” said Shaw Communications vice-president of external affairs Chethan Lakshman in an emailed statement. “Our operations teams are working around the clock to excavate and repair the damaged fibre line and are working to resolve this outage as soon as possible. We apologize to our customers for any inconvenience this outage may be causing.”

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