RCMP have been called in to help Bell Aliant pinpoint the cause of the latest cut to its subsea fibre optic cable linking Cape Breton with the southwest coast of Newfoundland.

The cut, which had to have been done using cutting instruments, occurred on Christmas Eve, and was the second such incident on the Cabot Strait in a year. The first occurred on January 4th of 2024.

Network Director with Bell Aliant, David Joice, says fortunately the cut didn’t affect service to customers on either side of the Gulf as the company has a number of contingencies built into the system.

Joice says there’s nothing to suggest at this time that the cuts have been malicious in nature, but he says cutting a cable like that is not easy to do.

He says if an anchor got caught in the cable for instance, the cable would have to be lifted up from the seabed and then manually cut the cable using mechanical cutting tools. “It wouldn’t be easy to do,” says Joice.

Bell Aliant wasn’t notified that the cable had to be cut in either of the cases. Now that the cable is repaired, they’ve cut a trench in which the cable now lies, and had it covered over to try to prevent similar situations in future.