Theft of Orange copper cables deprives residents and a nursing home of Internet in Deux-Sèvres

“This is the second time this year”laments Annick Bamberger, the mayor of La Rochénard. During the night of Sunday 15 to Monday 16 September 2024, copper telecommunications cables were stolen from the municipal network.

Direct consequence: all the residents who were connected to it as well as the town’s nursing home have since been deprived of telephone and Internet.

An open trapdoor in the Grande Rue

“Several people called on Monday to say they no longer had networksays the mayor. In passing, we saw that the hatch of a concrete room, where there are the connections, was open in the Grande Rue, between the town hall and the entrance to the village. The thieves are tearing out the cables with a vehicle.

“It must have happened around 11:30pm on Sunday night.she assumes, knowing of connection problems at that time. We immediately notified the Department because it is a departmental road and we secured it because the metal plates above had been removed; this could be dangerous.says Annick Bamberger. We also notified Orange and informed residents on Facebook. That’s all we can do. We have no visibility on the deadlines. When poles fell another time, we waited two months before they intervened.”

A previous theft of telecommunications cables has already been committed in the municipality this year. “In April, it was the line that came out of Épannes, 100 m from our house. All our residents who were on it no longer had Internet or telephone. They had taken almost a kilometer of copper and fiber cable”remembers the mayor.

“Copper is becoming increasingly valuable on the stock market”

Pending further details on these facts, Orange, via its regional communications department, explains that “Unfortunately, such thefts occur regularly, in Deux-Sèvres, Vienne, Creuse, Gironde… Even if Nouvelle-Aquitaine is not the most impacted region. At one point, it happened every week in Hauts-de-France. There were also quite a few in the Centre and Brittany regions in 2023.” Faced with these thefts, “Orange files a complaint every time.”

Why are such thefts committed? “Copper is a metal that is becoming rare, so its value has been rising continuously for several years. It has more and more value on the stock market. And a 300 m cable weighs more than 100 kg, so it goes quickly. The stolen cables are then sent to professionals or scrap metal dealers. Afterwards, it is melted down and sold by weight. The organizations that do this today are very organized mafias.”