The theft of internet fibre cables is on the rise, despite thieves not realising this type of cable is worthless to them.
In the latest cable theft incident in the West Coast Police District, 50 m of fibre cable, cut into pieces, were found in Doringbaai over the weekend.
According to Captain Tania Helfrich, a spokesperson for the district, the cable was found just after midnight on Saturday morning (8 October) in Lambert’s Bay Road, Doringbaai.
In a recent article Weslander reported it is an interesting irony that high-speed fibre internet is powered by cables that are worthless if broken or handled incorrectly.
Tanya Lourens, Regional Executive for Zoom Fibre in the Saldanha Bay municipal area, told Weslander earlier this month copper cable has intrinsic value, but fibre cable is worthless outside of its primary use – that is, transmitting connectivity in a carefully designed network.
She provided the information to spread awareness throughout the West Coast region discouraging thieves from vandalising expensive infrastructure that leads to the disruption of internet service. The cost to replace the stolen fibre cable found in Doringbaai amounted to R8 000, even though thieves won’t be able to sell it at all.
