Connectivity services in a UK village have been restored after copper thieves knocked parts of County Durham offline

As reported by the Northern Echo and ISPReview, the village of Shotton Colliery in County Durham was without Internet connectivity for most of the last week after the local copper network was targeted by thieves.

Openreach’s network was impacted from last Friday (October 3), with the thieves also damaging the area’s fiber optic network. Services were restored on Wednesday (October 8). ISPReview said Netomnia also appeared to be affected.

Openreach confirmed the outage was due to theft of copper cables. A company spokesperson said: “We’re deeply disappointed that this community is suffering the consequences of a criminal act targeting our network. These attacks cause extensive disruption to local lives, threaten the safety of vulnerable individuals, and result in significant inconvenience for residents and businesses.”

Services were offline elsewhere in County Durham in nearby Littletown earlier this month after acts of vandalism, according to UK ISP YouFibre.

Copper thefts have left various parts of the UK temporarily offline in recent years, including parts of Hampshire, Oxfordshire, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire, North Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Essex, Shropshire, and beyond.

Openreach, which operates the UK’s copper network, has been deploying anti-theft technology to prevent the rise in copper cable theft. The company reported a 30 percent decrease in cable theft after it deployed forensic tracking technology SelectaDNA, but material already in the ground doesn’t benefit.

Openreach is in the midst of shutting down its copper network, which is due to turn off in 2027.

DCD has covered the impact of attacks against telecoms infrastructure in Issue 58 of DCD>Magazine. We also spoke to Openreach about its copper network shutdown. Read more here.