Whitehorse Daily Star

Satellite failure disrupted services

Satellite services to Old Crow and communities across the other two territories were restored this morning, says Northwestel Inc. spokesman Andrew Anderson.

By Whitehorse Star on October 3, 2016

Satellite services to Old Crow and communities across the other two territories were restored this morning, says Northwestel Inc. spokesman Andrew Anderson.

Anderson said Internet, cell phone and long distance service provided by Northwestel through Telesat’s Anik F2 satellite were lost at 1:30 p.m. Sunday as a result of a problem with the satellite feed.

Services to Old Crow, Fort Ware in northwestern B.C., seven communities in the Northwest Territories and all 26 communities in Nunavut were lost.

Iqaluit did have some services through another provider, he explained.

Anderson said Telesat was able to re-initialize communication with the satellite at 7:30 this morning.

“As a result, Northwestel was able to bring services back up immediately,” said the director of communications.

Anderson said the problem with the Anik F2 also interrupted some 50 Northwestel cable TV channels provided by the satellite.

Among them were Whitehorse’s high-definition channel featuring Sunday’s all-important Toronto Blue Jays baseball game against the Boston Red Sox.

“That being the case, the Jays game was available on other channels,” he said.

The Jays won the game.

Telesat said in a press release issued this morning the company is continuing to investigate the root cause of the problem. It will share details as they become known.

“Satellite anomalies like the one that affected Telesat’s Anik F2 yesterday are highly unusual,” said the release.

Comments (1)

Up 9 Down 0

Rick on Oct 4, 2016 at 5:56 am

WTF! The "all-important Toronto Blue Jays baseball game" is your angle! Communication with Flights, Health Centres, National Defence... minor stuff.

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