Phone, Internet repairs to cost hundreds of thousands in Tippecanoe County

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - Twice in less than three weeks phone and Internet cables have been severed by construction crews, leaving the cleanup to Frontier Communications. Now, Frontier's taking action.

The first instance happened Oct. 5 when construction crews working on Cumberland Road cut a fiber optic cable and sets of copper wire, leaving thousands in West Lafayette without phone and internet service for two weeks.

The independent contracting company that cut the cable is responsible for paying the thousands of dollars to pay for time and equipment spent by Frontier to fix the cable. That's according to Frontier general manager Dave Sorg.

"I would estimate $500,000 would be a good number for the current time," Sorg said about the cost associated with repairing the severed fiber optic cable.

The second cut happened Wednesday near the intersection of Concord Road and Brady Lane in Lafayette. Construction crews sliced the copper cable leaving nearly 250 Frontier Communications customers without service for almost 12 hours. Service was restored by 6 a.m. Thursday.

Sorg said construction crews need to be more careful.

"Contractors have to be very careful when they're in those areas, whether it's an old cable that's dead, or it's a new cable that's working," Sorg said. "It really doesn't matter. The locate company is responsible for identifying [cables] and contractors are responsible to try not to cut it."

Sorg said after spending countless hours repairing cut fiber and copper cables, Frontier is asking local government to step in.

"Frontier is pursuing legislation right now similar to what is in place for gas companies, so that fines can be imposed," Sorg said.

Sorg said while cutting a buried communications cable doesn't cause harm to the public like a severed gas line would, the ability to make phone calls and use the Internet is a crucial part of running a business.

"The use of the telephone network, whether it be fiber or copper, is becoming so important to people and businesses to communicate and do their business, either from home or from an office. The state is actually taking interest now in the number of fiber cuts across the state, and in particularly Lafayette," Sorg said.

Sorg said dialing 811 before digging could have prevented the cables from being cut. He said if you're planning on doing any type of construction, make the call.

"It's an easy process and the people will come out and locate all of your facilities like electric, gas, water and communications to ensure that they are not cut in whatever digging you plan to do," Sorg said.