About 600 customers in an industrial area of Burnaby went without their landline phone service starting at 5 a.m. on Wednesday.
Thieves cut and stole a copper wire from Telus' Cypress central office in the early morning hours of Aug. 21, and local police are investigating, according to a Telus spokesperson Shawn Hall.
Hall said the thieves had to crawl down a manhole where they took the wire.
"Telus technicians (were) on scene and (were) working to restore service to customers as quickly as possible," a Telus media release stated. "To restore service, technicians must gain access through a manhole to repair the underground cable."
Hall said the real concern is that the 600 customers in the area were cut off and could not call 911.
"They're really putting the lives of our customers at risk," he said.
Telus said it expected to restore the cable later Wednesday evening, but due to the repair's complexity, crews had to work through the night and reprogram the system.
Roughly $50,000 is spent every time an incident such as this one occurs, Hall added, but it could be more this time due to the complex issue, crews worked through the night and the cable being replaced was underground.
Hall said he expected service in the area to return to normal late Thursday afternoon (after NOW deadlines).
"Repairs are going along well," he said Thursday morning. "We're certainly on track."
