By Nicole Goldsworthy
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
SaskToday.ca
SaskTel customers in several northern and northeastern Saskatchewan communities will experience a temporary service outage overnight as crews complete repairs to fibre-optic infrastructure damaged during last year’s wildfires.
According to a SaskTel public service announcement issued March 10, the planned outage will take place March 11 from 12 a.m. (midnight) to approximately 6 a.m.
During that time, SaskTel will be completing permanent repairs to fibre-optic cabling damaged during last year’s wildfires in northern Saskatchewan.
Internet, wireless and landline services — including home and business phone service — will be temporarily unavailable in and around several communities.
Communities affected by the outage include Sandy Bay, Brabant Lake, Geikie River, Wollaston Lake, Black Lake, Key Lake, McArthur River, Cigar Lake, Collins Bay, Stony Rapids and Fond-du-Lac.
SaskTel says the work is necessary to restore and strengthen the region’s communications infrastructure.
“This work is required to repair the damage and ensure the long-term reliability of services in the area,” the announcement said.
SaskTel also apologized to customers for the disruption.