After various service providers were alerted by disguntled customers, BT engineers checked lines throughout the town from Tuesday.

It had been suggested today (Thursday) that the problem lay with a faulty installation at the town's exchange in Shawpark Road.

But a BT spokesman told The Wee Paper :"A possible fault has been identified on the ISDN route between Selkirk and Edinburgh.

This has been taken out of service and traffic transferred to other routes while our investigations continue."

Communications at an end

ISDN is a high-speed, copper wire-borne service, popular with many companies in the town.

One provider confirmed that four of its business clients in Selkirk had complained on Wednesday about ongoing problems.

Typically, staff making outgoing calls could not be heard by recipients. Incoming calls were also intermittently cut off.

"We'd like to apologise to the businesses involved for the inconvenience they are been experiencing," said the BT spokesman.