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Fire leaves Manitoba community without phone, Internet service

Equipment is burned beyond repair at the MTS building in Camperville, Man. There are about 615 landline customers without service in an area that has no cellphone coverage. MTS / Global News

WINNIPEG – Residents of Camperville, Man., will be without phone and Internet services for days after a fire destroyed a telephone service building and equipment.

A fire at about 1:45 a.m. Wednesday destroyed an MTS building and network equipment, a notification from the telecom company’s media relations department said. About 615 landline customers in Camperville, Duck Bay and Smoky Island are without service and the area has no cellphone service. High-speed Internet customers also lost service.

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Before service is restored, the fire-damaged building must be demolished, then a new building constructed and new equipment and installed and configured. It will take approximately another week before phone and Internet service are restored, the MTS notification said.

MTS is looking for ways to provide limited service to the community, which currently has no phone access even for emergencies, a news release said.

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An MTS spokeswoman said while the company tries to supply redundant service to communities so there are backups in case a system fails, when the core fibre is destroyed, it can knock out service for a time.

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“Each community and the infrastructure is different,” Chelsea Ross said. “It can have a significant impact.”

Ross couldn’t say exactly when service will resume, but it is expected the building won’t be ready for equipment until Saturday, and installation of equipment is expected to take several days once the building is ready.

Camperville is 315 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg on the west shore of Lake Winnipegosis, 95 kilometres north of Dauphin, Man.

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