WOW's headquarters at 1 Riverfront Plaza are pictured in this Journal-World file photo.

The problem that caused a widespread outage for WOW internet customers has been identified and service was being restored at about 4:30 p.m. Saturday, an official with the company said.

Debra Schmidt, WOW assistant manager for the Lawrence area, said the outage stemmed from fiber damage one of the company’s network partners experienced. All WOW customers managed by the Lawrence office lost internet service shortly before noon Saturday, she said.

The network partner located the problem at about 4 p.m. and was restoring service, Schmidt said.

WOW, which includes Channel 6, announced in October that it had entered into an agreement with Midco to acquire the Lawrence system. Midco is a regional cable and internet provider with businesses in North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

The changeover to Midco should eventually bring gigabit internet to the Lawrence area, where WOW has more than 30,000 customers in Douglas, Leavenworth and Wyandotte counties. Midco has a goal of providing the extra fast internet service to most of its customers by the end of 2017, and Midco leaders said that will likely include its Lawrence operations.

Schmidt said the sale had not closed but the purchase process was continuing.