Service restored after vandalism leaves thousands of Calgarians without internet, phone

Residents in more than two-dozen inner city communities were without internet and phone service for nearly 12 hours Tuesday following vandalism of a Rogers fibre line.

The company first reported issues around 5:20 a.m., before saying around two hours later the outage had been caused by a “fibre cut caused by vandalism.”

“Some customers in parts of north Calgary may be experiencing an interruption to their internet, TV and home phone services due to a fibre cut caused by vandalism and suspected theft of copper wire,” a company spokesperson told CityNews. “We have contacted local authorities and have technical teams on-site, working to restore services as soon as possible. We apologize to impacted customers for this interruption.”

Customers in Balmoral, Brentwood, Bridgeland-Riverside, Capitol Hill, Charleswood, Collingwood, Crescent Heights, Hillhurst, Mayfair, Mountview, Mount Pleasant, National, North Haven, Renfrew, Rosemont, Sunnyside, and Tuxedo Park were affected. Rogers says about 5,000 customers had their service impacted at the peak of the outage.

In an update Tuesday afternoon, Rogers said the services were fully restored for all customers around 4:50 p.m.

Fixing a damaged line usually takes between eight and 12 hours, according to Rogers, but the company adds outages due to vandalism often take longer to repair than other outage types due to the extent of damage and associated repairs.

Vandalism outages surging in recent years

Tuesday’s incident is the second in Calgary this month; on May 6, several customers in the north part of the city had their service disturbed thanks to vandalism and attempted theft of copper wire.

Rogers previously told CityNews that vandalism outages are increasing year over year at a rapid pace, and the company has experienced a more than four to five times increase in outages due to vandalism since 2022.

“It’s definitely linked to the fact that the price of copper has increased over that time,” says Eric Smith, Vice President of the Canadian Telecommunications Association. “Criminals are seeing this as an opportunity to try to extract some copper wiring.”

Smith says he would like to see amendments to the criminal code that would lead to harsher sentences for criminals who steal wire, noting that under the current rules, suspects are being charged with theft under $5000.

“It’s not a victimless crime,” he says. “It impacts the whole community.”

Calgary police confirm to CityNews they are investigating an early morning report of vandalism to fiberoptic cables in the city’s northeast.

Rogers says the Canadian Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (CSTAC) is requesting that citizens contact law enforcement if they witness acts of arson, vandalism and theft targeting telecommunications networks

Rogers is the parent company of CityNews.