SaskTel outage impacting cellular service restored

A SaskTel call centre is seen here in downtown Saskatoon. (Kevin Menz/CTV Saskatoon)

A SaskTel outage affecting cellular services on Friday has been restored.

According to the Crown corporation’s support updates, the outage began around 8:30 a.m. Friday and was impacting cellular calling and business customers. However, emergency services were reportedly still working and not affected.

“SaskTel technicians are working to resolve the outage as quickly as possible, however there currently is no estimated time of repair,” SaskTel said in a news release in the morning.

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SaskTel customers attempting to call out from their cell phones were met with a “call failed” message.

Several updates were given throughout the day, with SaskTel reporting the outage had been fully restored just before 6 p.m.

In an update from SaskTel just after 3 p.m. on Friday, the provider said they were still experiencing the outage affecting all cellular voice services and about 3,000 business voice customers.

“Data services and text messaging are not impacted, and some cellular calls may intermittently go through. Customers can also place calls using SaskTel Home or Business Landline services,” the public service announcement read, noting that teams were actively working to restore full service as quickly as possible.

In another update around 5:30 p.m., the Crown corporation said all 3,000 business voice customers had services restored but there was still an intermittent outage affecting all cellular voice services.

In that update, SaskTel said they were optimistic they identified the root cause of the outage.

Throughout the day, Saskatchewan RCMP advised it was still able to receive 911 calls, but its provincial line 310-RCMP was not working as of Friday morning.

“Residents are reminded that dialing 911 must be reserved for emergencies and crimes in progress only,” RCMP said. “Residents should visit their local/nearest emergency services for non-emergency matters.”

In an email around 6:40 p.m., Saskatchewan RCMP said residents can now make calls to their local police of jurisdiction.

The Regina Police Service also advised it was affected by the outage but was still able to receive 911 calls.

SaskTel said the network will continue to be monitored throughout the weekend.

Any outage updates can be found on SaskTel’s website.