Telstra has issued a warning after a 60-metre-long cable was found dumped in remote bushland this week, with the discovery revealing the ongoing threat that copper theft poses to the telecommunications network and the millions of Australians who use it.
The cable, which was ripped off nearby infrastructure, was found by Dave Dudley in Townsville on Wednesday. The Tidy-Up Townsville founder, an organisation that tirelessly cleans up dumped items in the city, told Yahoo News he deals with a handful of suspected copper theft incidents a month, and the trend is showing no sign of slowing down.
“Copper theft is massive in Townsville. There’s been plenty of cases where people have been actually caught and prosecuted, but it’s still going on, unfortunately,” he told Yahoo. “We find heaps of it [cables].”
Copper cables are being ripped from powerlines and road infrastructure across the country in order to sell the scrap metal for cash, and it’s got so out of hand that long stretches of highways have even been temporarily plunged into darkness as authorities scramble to replace the stolen cabling.
Dave Dudley told Yahoo News copper theft continues to run rampant in the city. Source: Facebook/Tidy-Up Townsville
According to the Australian Institute of Criminology, the federal government has estimated the annual cost of metal theft is valued at well over $100 million, and that’s before the environmental impacts of the crime are even considered. Aside from the ongoing dumping incidents, thieves often burn the cables to strip off any unwanted plastic attached to the copper, with the fires leaving bushland charred.
“It’s really thin cables wrapped in a big piece of insulation, and they strip it out. They’ll take it somewhere to burn it to take the plastic off,” Dave explained.
Copper theft imposing ‘significant’ impact on Telstra network
Telstra continues to grapple with the impact copper theft has on its network, and as the country’s largest mobile provider — providing potential coverage for about 99 per cent of the population — any threat to its infrastructure can result in “businesses, individuals and critical community services [being] disconnected for hours or days”.
“The impact of copper theft on customers can be significant,” a Telstra spokesperson told Yahoo News.
“Nationally, there have been over 140 arrests for copper theft from our sites in the past two years.
“Penalties for the offenders already amount to thousands of hours of community services, millions in financial penalties and several years’ imprisonment.”
Telstra is urging people to report any discovery of its cables or suspicious behaviour to authorities.
“We encourage anyone seeing any suspicious activity near our facilities to contact the police immediately,” the spokesperson said.
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