A widespread internet outage is affecting approximately 8,000 households in West Auckland, Recent Zealand, after damage to both copper and fibre optic cables, Chorus confirmed Saturday.
The disruption began around 5:30 a.m. Local time, impacting residents in Te Atatū, Henderson, and Massey, as well as several coastal settlements to the west of the city. Chorus, the fixed-line telecoms and infrastructure company, has located the fault but estimates full service restoration will not occur until Sunday, February 22, 2026.
“The outage is due to damage to several copper and fibre cables,” a Chorus spokesperson stated. The company described the damage as a “one-off localised fault,” adding that repairs are complex due to the number of cables affected and their location.
Approximately 7,500 customers were initially reported as being without service, a figure that has since risen to around 8,000, according to Chorus. Repair crews are prioritizing fixes based on the number of customers served by each cable, with the process involving splicing and re-joining individual connections described as “meticulous work in demanding conditions and location.”
“Our crews are working as hard as they can to ensure the impact is as short as possible,” the spokesperson said. “We recognise how important connectivity is to people’s daily lives and appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding as we work to restore communications as quickly as possible.”
The cause of the cable damage remains unknown as of Saturday. Chorus has not provided a timeline for determining the cause of the damage, and repair work will continue “until services have been restored.”
