Many communities north of Whitehorse were without Northwestel Inc. service for several hours on Wednesday.

The outage meant a loss of long distance, cell phone and data service for Northwestel customers north of Whitehorse, including the Mackenzie Delta.

Point of Sale machines were also down. Local phone service within the communities was not affected.

The outage began at around 12:30 Wednesday afternoon when Northwestel's fibre optic cable was cut during roadwork outside of Fox Lake.

The cable runs alongside the Alaska Highway between Whitehorse and Carmacks.

There are "difficult conditions”, including mud, rock and wetness, in the area where the roadwork is being conducted, Northwestel spokesperson Emily Younker said today, including mud.

At some point, soft earth movement in the area caused the cable to become exposed.

Technicians restored all services by 6:10 p.m.

Because Northwestel's fibre optic cables run underground from the south, they are susceptible to construction, Younker said.

She reminds Yukoners to call Northwestel's "Call Before you Dig” line at 1-888-768-5377 before undertaking digging projects to prevent damage to cables.