Thunder Bay Telephone customers in the north side downtown and other areas lost their internet service on Friday.

The disruption affected debit-card transactions in some cases. One Thunder Bay lottery outlet operator said he had to turn many customers away on one of the busiest days for lottery ticket sales, because the disruption affected the operation of his debit card terminal.

Thunder Bay Telephone spokesperson Barry Streib said the problem resulted from an unstable fibre-optic connection at the Court Street exchange.

Besides the north core, service was disrupted on Agnes Street, Birch Beach, Copenhagen Road, Current River, Dog Lake, Grandview, Hawkeye Lake, parts of John Street, Lakeshore Drive, One Island Lake, Otto Street, Surprise Lake, Whalen Street and Ware.

The company said technicians hoped to resolve the problem by mid-afternoon Friday.