US carriers join forces to fight incidents of copper cable theft, stop disruptions to Internet services

The Internet & Television Association in the US posted a worrying report – there were 18,327 incidents of theft and vandalism that affect the network of wires that bring Internet connectivity to customers’ homes. To put that in perspective, this has affected nearly 12 million people. The rate works out to 1,527 incidents per month or 50 incidents on average per day. And it’s getting worse – there has been a 59% increase since 2024. You can read the reporthere(PDF). Now, the country’s Top 3 carriers – AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon – have joined the STRIKE initiative. This dramatic acronym stands for “Strategic Threat Response & Infrastructure Knowledge Exchange” and aims to help service providers coordinate and plan better protection to their networks.

Copper wires often get stolen to resell for the value of the metal. But optic cables are in danger too – those often get cut in acts of vandalism. In fact, industry leaders want to label these as acts of terrorism instead, since these can affect hospitals, schools and people’s access to emergency services. Source