Sydney  - Telecommunications at businesses and homes in the centre of Sydney could be out for up to a week after a construction worker accidentally cut through a bundle of 10,000 wires and fibre optics, phone company Testra Corp said Wednesday.

"There will be many thousands [of customers], the exact number we don't know, because we're still plotting where this cable serves in the city," Telstra spokesman Craig Middleton told reporters.

"We are digging out the damaged section of cable that was damaged by a jackhammer," he said. (dpa)