Vandals mess up, Cogeco customers in Burlington, Oakville, Milton, Halton Hills pay the price

Vandals who have been ripping out Cogeco fibre optic cables are not finding what they are looking for.

Two incidents in Halton Region recently led to television, phone and internet outages in some parts of Oakville, Milton, Burling and Halton Hills.

Cogeco now reports the vandals are likely after copper wire.

Unfortunately for everyone involved, copper is not used in the fibre optic cables.

A spokesperson for the telecommunications company said these incidents are part of a growing trend across Canada.

“While we can’t speculate on the specific motivates, these acts often involve attempts to steal copper for scrap metal. However, Cogeco does not use copper in our fibre optic cables, so the cut wires are usually left behind as fibre optic cables have no resale value. This was the case in this instance,” explained Kristen Curry, Communications and Public Relations Manager for Cogeco.

The first incident took place on Aug. 16 which affected service in Burlington.

And, vandals were at it again yesterday where the destruction of the cable caused more widespread havoc.

The next incident happened yesterday (Aug. 22) and meant that some customers were left without Cogeco service for several hours.

“This is the second act of fibre optic cable vandalism we’ve experienced in the Halton Region this month,” said Curry. “Unfortunately, incidents like this are becoming more common across the telecommunications industry in Canada.”

Halton Police have been notified about both incidents.

Curry added that while vandals are causing property damage, they are also affecting the lives of internet users who rely on the connection for work, but it is a also public safety issue as home phones are also impacted.