SaskTel says equipment vandalized

October 17, 2019, 9:17 am

SaskTel says there have been incidents of vandalism of equipment in recent days that have impaacted phone, internet and TV services for SaskTel customers in Moosoe Jaw and Saskatoon

According to SaskTel, in the 400 Block – 25th Street E., Saskatoon SK – From Oct 13th at 04:49 to Oct 13th at 09:25 (4 hours), approximately 152 customers were without SaskTel internet and television services.

SaskTel says a power meter was removed from a SaskTel cabinet which exposed live connectors creating an extremely dangerous situation. "If someone would have come into contact with the exposed power connectors a severe electrical shock would have occurred," SaskTel said in a news release. "We want to emphasize to the public that please do not touch any exposed part of a cabinet and to report it to SaskTel."

In the 800 Block – 4th Avenue N., Saskatoon, SK – From Oct 7th at 04:47 to Oct 8th at 17:00 (12 hours), approximately 20 customers were without SaskTel home phone service, internet and television services. The fibre cables in a SaskTel cabinet were moved around to disconnect customers’ services.

In the 500 Block Hochelaga St W – Moose Jaw, SK – From Oct 6th at 23:45 to Oct 7th at 18:00 (18 hours), approximately 130 customers were without SaskTel home phone service, internet and television services. A SaskTel cabinet in Moose Jaw was vandalized and cables were moved around and cut within the cabinet.

"We are concerned these outages may have impacted our customers’ ability to communicate in the event of an emergency situation," says SaskTel. "We are requesting the public’s assistance in reporting any information they may have on these specific acts of vandalism or any suspicious activity that they witness on SaskTel property, equipment, or infrastructure to their local police."

"SaskTel is also concerned with Unifor’s messaging to its members to flood the SaskTel Contact Centres with fictitious calls causing delays in legitimate customer calls for service being answered. Legitimate customer calls may be to report service issues.

"We respect Unifor’s members right to strike, but we also ask them to respect the right for the residents of Saskatchewan to be able to communicate"