South Bay Phone Outage Likely Caused by Vandals

Police say that at 1:20 a.m., fiber optic cables located beneath a manhole were cut and severed on Monterey Highway, north of Blossom Hill Road.

KCBS Team Coverage

The outage, reported around 2 a.m., has affected parts of south Santa Clara County, as well as Santa Cruz and San Benito counties. Parts of south San Jose are affected as well.

In San Carlos, vandals struck a second time along Old County Road at the edge of San Carlos and Redwood City. Fiber optic cables that service AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and Above Net were cut and severed in four separate manholes.

AT&T spokesman John Britton said repair crews expect to complete the process of repairing the hundreds of tiny strands inside the fiber optic cables some time Thursday night, although he could not give a more specific estimate.

The outage was affecting AT&T land lines and Verizon cell sites.

Repair crews hope to have service restored sometime tonight.

Local Emergency Declared in Santa Clara County

A local emergency has been declared in Santa Clara County to provide emergency services if needed.

Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith says her department has tripled the number of deputies patrolling Morgan Hill, Gilroy and San Martin. Sheriff Search and Rescue Teams have also been sent to six major intersections in each of those cities to help if needed.

OES reports St. Louise Hospital in Gilroy has cancelled all elected surgeries to keep it’s capacity open and an increased number of ambulances have been stationed at the hospital to be dispatched if necessary.

There have been no reports of any major injuries since the beginning of the outages.

In an emergency situation, officials say residents should report to the nearest hospital, or police or fire station or flag down a passing emergency vehicle

Patrol cars and fire trucks have also been stationed at over a dozen different shopping centers.

First responders say residents should always update their earthquake quits to be prepared for emergency situations where they may have to take care of themselves.

Union Negotiations May be Linked to Outage

In addition to vandalism, police are also investigating whether or not the incidents may be linked to the expiration of a labor contract between AT&T and the Communication Workers of America (CWA) which ended April 5.

So far no strike has been called and workers remain on the job. Talks between the union and AT&T continue.

Union spokeswoman Candice Johnson says workers are worried about having to pay more for healthcare and about employment security which she says involves training older workers in new communications technology.

AT&T spokesman Larry Solomon says the company is proposing a market-based healthcare program with additional employee contributions. He says currently workers pay eight percent of their healthcare costs which is far below the national average.

The CWA is AT&T’s largest union.

Photo courtesy of CBS 5.

(cfu)