Damage to a major fibre optic cable during construction works in Katherine has resulted in communications outages in the region.

The Telstra cable was damaged during directional boring this morning during works on the Chardon St industrial subdivision.

This project is being delivered by a contractor and is funded by the Northern Territory Government.

Approximately 1400 services south of Katherine and to Tennant Creek have been affected.

Telstra technicians are on site working on fixing the problem with the aim of restoring services as soon as possible.

At this stage it is estimated that services will be restored later tonight.

How the damage occurred is still being investigated and will be the subject of an incident report.

Media enquiries: Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics, Shannon Rice 0477 388 404