[SatNews] The wayward satellite, nicknamed 'zombie' satellite by some because of its non response to directions and signals, may create some periodic loss of long-distance telephone and Internet service later this week for up to 35,000 people in rural Alaska.

The Galaxy 15 is operated by Intelsat a European company. The satellite malfunctioned in April and has been wandering toward other satellites, interfering with their signals, hence the moniker.

According to a General Communications Inc. spokesman David Morris the outages are expected to start Wednesday morning and continue until Saturday, and will last from 90 minutes to more than five hours. GCI estimates 4,000 residents and 1,000 businesses could briefly lose communications, meaning that ATMs will be offline and stores won't be able to process credit cards during the outages.