Downtown outage caused by construction mishap: Bell MTS

Some customers in downtown Winnipeg are experiencing a Bell MTS service interruption after telecommunications infrastructure was damaged Tuesday.

Bell MTS said on social media that a third-party construction crew accidentally cut a copper cable, causing the outage.

Contractors drilled through multiple underground ducts, causing significant damage to several cables and requiring extensive repairs.

A small number of buildings, mainly concentrated on Fort Street, Garry Street and York Avenue, may be experiencing landline or internet issues because of the damage, said Bell spokesperson Elise von Scheel.

Bell MTS said the complex nature of the repairs and limited availability of specialized replacement cable means the work could take several days.

A similar outage affected Bell MTS customers in south Winnipeg late last year.

In November, a third-party contractor damaged a Bell MTS concrete conduit while drilling beneath Pembina Highway, affecting about 7,300 service pairs. Multiple cables were damaged.

Tenants at a south Winnipeg condo building remained without functional landlines for more than a month. A backup phone line used for the building’s security and fire-monitoring systems was also affected.

Bell MTS said significant reconstruction was required to fix the issue.

More recently, Bell MTS outages have disrupted 911 service and drawn scrutiny from provincial officials.

On July 22, an hours-long outage prevented nearly 90 calls to 911 from being routed to the public safety answering point in Brandon. Bell said backup systems that reroute 911 calls during an outage also experienced issues after a third party cut a cable during construction near Winnipeg.

This week, Premier Wab Kinew called the outage “unacceptable” and said he spoke directly with Bell Canada president and CEO Mirko Bibic about preventing similar disruptions.

A widespread Bell MTS outage in April also left an unknown number of Manitobans unable to call 911 because their landline and internet service was down for days. That outage also affected Grace Hospital in Winnipeg.

“Unacceptable” was the word used again to describe the situation, that time by Innovation and New Technology Minister Mike Moroz.

Moroz said the province would continue to pressure the federal government to hold providers accountable.

Questions about the reliability of the Bell MTS cellular network have also emerged this summer.

In July, officials in St. Lazare said they had to drive to more than 20 properties to warn residents about flooding because the area has no dependable cell service.

The Rural Municipality of Ellice-Archie called the lack of coverage a public safety concern, saying residents would have no way to call 911 if someone was injured during the flooding.

Bell MTS said expanding wireless service in rural areas, such as St. Lazare, can be challenging for private investment alone. The company said it is open to partnerships with provincial and federal governments to expand its network.

For the current service interruption downtown, crews remain on site working to restore things as quickly and safely as possible. The company said it will provide updates as more information becomes available.

zoe.pierce@freepress.mb.ca