A contractor digging a hole to replace a light pole tore into fiber optic lines for WOW!, knocking out cable, internet and telephone service for as many as 20,000 customers in Columbus.
WOW! says the contractor was not employed by them, but was working for someone else at the corner of East Broad Street and Miami Avenue. The company says the worker used an auger and was digging in an area that was clearly marked for buried cables.
WOW! crews immediately began repairs, which involve bringing in new fiber optic cables and splicing hundreds of filaments together.
"When it's all said and done we're gonna probably have to splice over a thousand different fibers together to get this going," said WOW! Vice President of Ohio Operations Greg Argetsinger.
It was expected to take at least 8 hours to complete the repairs. At 8:00 p.m., WOW! said it restored power to 60% of the impacted customers.
Most of the customers affected live in West and Southwest Columbus, and include the Grove City area. The outage also disrupted WOW!'s call center which means customers have had a difficult time reaching the company.
WOW! Working To Restore Cable, Internet, Phone Service to 20,000 Customers
A contractor digging a hole to replace a light pole tore into fiber optic lines for WOW!, knocking out cable, internet and telephone service for as many as 20,000 customers in Columbus. Read more.