By David Erickson
When an accidentally damaged fiber optic cable cut out Internet, landline and cell service - including 911 service - in the Bitterroot Valley last week, it exposed a longstanding and widespread problem in Montana. Because of vast distances and a sparse population density, the state's telecommunications infrastructure often lacks redundancy and there is often no back-up when an errant excavator hits a crucial line.
The CenturyLink cable that serves the Bitterroot Valley has been cut before, in 2011, causing the same outages. There hasn't been much improvement to the problem since then. In 2017, a damaged CenturyLink fiber optic line in Kalispell cut out Internet in the Flathead Valley and 911 calls had to be rerouted to Missoula.