Hawaiian Telcom crews restore phone service to all customers on Hawaii Island

KONA, HAWAII (HawaiiNewsNow) - Hawaiian Telcom technicians reported that all services have been restored to customers on Hawaii island after a cable was cut, causing many residents to lose phone and internet service on Wednesday.

Crews successfully replaced the cut cable with a new cable, and completed splicing more than 500 feet of cable, restoring all services to impacted customers just before 7:30 p.m.

Hawaiian Telcom reported on Wednesday afternoon that some telephone customers on the Island of Hawaii were experiencing outages because of a cable that was cut. This outage affected residential and business phone systems as well cell phone service from Waikoloa south to Na'alehu, including North and South Kona and Ocean View and also may have included isolated areas in other parts of the island.

911 service was also affected by this outage. Kona Police requested that those needing police assistance go to the nearest police station.

The following was a news release from Hawaiian Telcom:

At about 1 p.m. today, alarms triggered in Hawaiian Telcom's 24/7 Network Operations Center, indicating a service issue in Kona. Upon further investigation, a fiber break was discovered on Mamalahoa Highway near the intersection to the Daniel K. Inouye Highway. A contractor transporting a grader snagged and severed a 36-strand fiber cable.
Hawaiian Telcom landline telephone and Internet are out of service in the Kona area extending from Waikoloa to Pahala, affecting approximately 20,000 phone and 5,500 Internet customers. Wireless carriers may also be impacted.
Hawaiian Telcom teams from both Hilo and Kona are engaged on a restoration plan, which will require placing more than 500 feet of cable and 72 individual splices. An update will be shared as more information becomes available.