Homes and businesses in parts of Hobart’s northern suburbs have been without internet for more than a day after cabling near Gagebrook was damaged by what NBN technicians believe were copper thieves.
The outage started around midday on Friday and has affected NBN services in and around the Brighton municipality, including Old Beach.
NBN technicians found suspected copper thieves had significantly damaged fibre optic cabling at the bridge crossing between Bridgewater and Gagebrook, with the company describing the necessary repairs as “a big job”.
Sources told Pulse the vandals appear to have used a ladder to cut heavy duty pipes, which carry various telecommunications and electricity cables, on both sides of the bridge – before cutting cables and pulling them through.
On Friday, an NBN spokesperson said around 1,350 customers were affected.
Tasmania Police said today the damage had disrupted the network for “several thousand customers”.
Field technicians worked throughout today to haul new cabling and have started joining it, according to an NBN update this afternoon.
The company said services would come back progressively as the work was finished, with full restoration expected between 6pm and 8pm tonight.
Customers still without a working service later tonight have been advised to turn their modem off and on again at the power point, which NBN said would often restore the connection.
“We know how frustrating disruptions to connectivity like this can be and appreciate community patience and understanding while we have worked to restore connectivity,” the spokesperson said.
A Tasmania Police spokesperson said there had been an increase in reports of copper theft across the state, including several reports of offenders targeting communications sites in southern Tasmania.
On top of the cost of restoring services, the spokesperson said offenders were “risking their own lives in undertaking this illegal and highly dangerous activity”.
Officers are continuing to investigate and disrupt the illegal market for stolen copper, including through compliance checks of businesses that buy and sell recycled metal.
Anyone with information, or who has seen suspicious activity around communications infrastructure, worksites or other sites where copper may be targeted, is asked to contact police.
