SaskTel still unsure why vandals are damaging Saskatoon infrastructure

SaskTel is at a loss to explain why its infrastructure is being targeted by vandals.

Greg Jacobs, SaskTel spokesperson, said the company’s pedestals — boxes of electronic equipment that serve a neighbourhood or a few blocks of homes and businesses – are being damaged.

Jacobs said the boxes are being opened and lines are being cut, “making a real mess of the electronics that are inside” and wiping out wired services in the area, including Internet, television and home phone services.

The vandalism seems to only have happened in Saskatoon, Jacobs said. There have been more than 15 incidents since Wednesday, in areas all around the city.

Jacobs said more than 1,500 customers have been affected by the damage so far. The vast majority of those customers have already been reconnected, Jacobs noted, but the repair times vary depending on the severity of the damage done to each box.

The first incident, Jacobs explained, didn’t involve much damage and repairs were completed in a matter of hours. The second, however, saw extensive damage done to a pedestal and as a result repairs took “quite a bit of time.”

“We prioritize fixing the service as quickly as possible when we’re getting these alarms,” Jacobs said.

Jacobs said he couldn’t yet estimate the cost of the damage, saying it will be tallied after the vandalism stops. For now, he said SaskTel’s focus is getting affected customers back online as soon as possible, especially given the potential for dangerous consequences.

While it might be inconvenient to lose television and Internet, losing a home phone line can be devastating in some cases, Jacobs explained.

“When you knock out someone’s home phone service, especially as you got into the older generations where that might be their only line of communication … you could be preventing them from calling 911 in an emergency situation,” he said.

Jacobs said is no real potential for financial gain for any of the vandals, though the damage is creating significant problems for SaskTel’s customers.

“We recognize that it is an inconvenience and we thank them for their patience when they are impacted,” Jacobs said.

He asked Saskatoon residents to report any suspicious activity around SaskTel pedestals to police.