Severed fiber optic line in Taos shuts down phone, internet services

TAOS — A fiber optic cable operated by Lumen Technologies was severed near the Big 5 store in Taos on Monday, disrupting cellphone and internet service throughout Taos County and in parts of Santa Fe County for more than a day.

It remained unclear when service would be restored to customers of the affected companies, including Verizon Wireless, Taos Net and CenturyLink. Local radio stations also were affected.

Officials with the city of Santa Fe said in a news release Tuesday morning the severed line had shut down the city's website. Crews were working to fix the cable and restore service "for our host Brownrice [Internet] and other cell/internet service providers," the news release said.

Officials expected the city's website to be restored by the end of the day, but it was still down after 5 p.m. Tuesday.

Olivia Romo, a spokeswoman for Santa Fe County, said the county also relies on Brownrice Internet Inc. for host services.

The city and county both "have experienced a complete outage due to the fiber break in Taos," she wrote in an email Tuesday afternoon. "Lumen technicians are working diligently to create an emergency network and anticipate to restore full network services by 3 p.m. today. Currently, County employees have intermittent access to internet but the website has been completely down for over 24 hours."

Later Tuesday, Romo said the county's service had not yet been restored.

Kit Carson Electric Cooperative CEO Luis Reyes said in a statement Monday that Lumen crews would be working throughout the night to repair the severed cable.

As of mid-morning Tuesday, they were still working on a fix, and Reyes said there was no estimated time when the repair would be completed.

"Splicers have confirmed that 3 separate fibers are damaged," Reyes wrote in an email. "… Contractors are working to blow tape through the pipe, as there are no spare ducts. If able to clear the pipe, the damaged fiber will be replaced. If unable to access the duct, the asphalt will have to be broken up.

"Traffic control is currently en route to assist with lane closure as traffic will need to be closed," he added.

Kit Carson Electric's services — including its internet service, which has redundant network paths built in — have not been affected by the severed line.

A spokesperson for the New Mexico Department of Health said Taos County Public Health Office phones were down, but services are still available in person during the outage.

Taos County Commissioner Ronald Mascareñas, who for decades worked in communications and internet technologies, said fiber line replacement is time-consuming work.

"Hopefully it's within the next day or two," he said during Tuesday's commission meeting. "Without having an official estimate, we’re probably a day to two days, still, before" service is fully restored.

"They do have some redundant feeds going, but they’re very small lines," Mascareñas added. "So every so often you’ll get a text and you get a phone call; but your best bet is to use Wi-Fi, for those Wi-Fi providers that are still up."

Information from The New Mexican was used in this story.

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