A landslide in northern B.C. on Saturday caused a telecommunications outage lasting most of the evening.

Yukoners experienced the loss of Internet, phone and cable TV services at around 7 p.m. Saturday. Service was not restored until some time after 2 a.m. Sunday.

According to Northwestel Inc., the interruption was caused by a fibre cut due to a landslide.

The issue predominantly affected the Yukon, but services may have been affected across the North, Northwestel said.

Several residents of Yellowknife posted to social media complaining of cable and phone disruptions on Saturday night.

“Early Sunday morning, Northwestel technicians were able to identify the damage caused by a landslide and conduct a temporary repair, restoring all services,” said a Northwestel service notification on Sunday.

“We apologize to all our customers for this very unfortunate disruption.”

The North currently depends on a single fibre optic line for all telecommunications services.

The Dempster Fibre Project, an 800-kilometre line along the Dempster Highway, is expected to provide a backup line to the Yukon to prevent territory-wide outages.

The $79-million project is still in the planning stages. It’s scheduled to break ground next spring, with completion expected by 2025.