Canadian telcos say networks hit by power outages from ice storm

(Reuters) – Canadian telecom companies said on Thursday their services in the southeastern part of the country were impacted due to widespread power outages caused by an ice storm a day ago.

Services of Telus Corp, Bell and Rogers Communications Inc were affected after freezing rain and strong winds knocked out power for more than a million people in Canada’s two most populous provinces, Ontario and Quebec, ahead of a holiday weekend.

“Our wireless customers remain connected, however, some may notice a degradation of service with fewer available sites due to power outages,” Rogers said in a tweet, adding that regions in and around Ottawa, Greater Montreal and Quebec were affected.

Bells’ customers in Greater Montreal area, Greater Ottawa area and the Outaouais region were impacted.

Electricity providers in both provinces were working to restore power, but repairs were expected to continue for days.

Hydro-Quebec was hoping to restore power for about 70% of its customers by Friday midnight, an executive at the utility said in a televised briefing.

(Reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar and Devika Syamnath)