Telecom industry players look to Senate for greater copper theft prevention

Representatives from the Canadian Telecommunications Association (CTA), BCE Inc., and Telus Corp. are calling on lawmakers to tackle the growing issue of copper theft. The telecom industry players, joined by Electricity Canada, appeared before the Senate standing committee on transport and communications Wednesday evening. As the number of copper thefts continues to rise, the group urged Parliament to address the issue by enacting laws that deter criminals and tighten regulations around the sale of copper. Theft and vandalism of network facilities “are not mere inconveniences to telecom companies,” said CTA senior vice-president Eric Smith. “They affect individuals and communities. They impact utilities, hospitals, airports, and businesses – and, most importantly, they threaten public safety and human life.” According to the CTA, as of this May, the amount of thefts or vandalism of telecom sites across Canada has increased by more than 400 per cent since 2022. Bell and Telus emphasized that many of these incidents are related to copper theft. Across Bell’s footprint, there have been more than 1,650 physical network security incidents since January 2022, reported the company’s vice-president of public affairs Michele Austin. She explained that copper theft is responsible for 88 per cent of those incidents and increased year-over-year by 78 per cent from November 2023. She also highlighted that Bell experiences most of its copper theft in Ontario, with 61 per cent of incidents occurring in the province. Hotspots are in Kingston, Hamilton, London, Brantford, and Cambridge. For Telus’ part, service reliability centre vice-president Brian Lakey noted that, since 2021, copper theft has “robbed” over 170,000 Telus customers of more than 200 million minutes of “essential telecom service.” READ MORE: – Bill C-70 a good start but more is needed to combat infrastructure vandalism: CTA – Bell files suit against copper thief who left 1,000 customers without service – Kingston police want greater powers to combat copper wire theft In recent years, the telcos and CTA have been urging the federal government to help prevent such incidents by amending the Criminal Code to maximize the criminal penalties for stealing or damaging critical network infrastructure. Telus and Electricity Canada are also calling on the feds to encourage the standardization of scrap metal dealer and recycler regulations across all provinces, as well as increase support for law enforcement. Canada has taken steps to address the threat of foreign actors to telecom infrastructure, such as those found in the Countering Foreign Interference Act, C-70, passed this June – but witnesses noted that it only targets people who intend to cause harm to public safety or national security. This means that most copper thieves are not captured by this law, and often face charges for theft under $5,000 instead. “This is the same charge levelled against someone caught stealing a bicycle, yet the consequences of copper theft are much greater,” said Smith. The telco representatives highlighted a number of theft and vandalism incidents that they have faced recently. An example Austin gave occurred on Nov. 19 in Miramichi, N.B., in which thieves knocked out both copper and fibre lines. “The internet at the Miramichi airport was down all day. While planes could still land, the airport was unable to access weather or other data used to help pilots, digital payment systems were also down,” said Austin. While repairs took 24 hours and cost Bell $30,000, she noted that police estimated the amount of copper stolen would have been worth about $100 to the thieves. READ MORE: – Bell increases security on network grid to battle copper thefts “Penalties for metal theft should align with the severity of the harm that's caused, moving beyond the current categorization as theft under $5,000,” said Francis Bradley, CEO of Electricity Canada. Lakey argued that Canada is “lagging behind” other jurisdictions when it comes to combatting copper theft, pointing to examples in the United Kingdom, Australia, and California. The British economy was estimated to have lost a billion pounds per year due to copper theft, he explained. This spurred the launch of “Operation Tornado” in 2012, a voluntary program which, according to the BBC, required anyone selling scrap metal to participating dealers to provide photo ID. British Transport Police reported that this led to a 51 per cent drop in copper theft. Lakey said that the Australian state of Victoria introduced a metal theft prevention strategy that also included mandatory record keeping, leading to a 40 per cent reduction in metal theft incidents. Smith pointed to legislation recently passed in Florida which created new criminal offenses for damaging critical infrastructure, including penalties of up to 15 years of jail time and fines up to double the losses suffered. He highlighted that it also established civil liabilities of up to three times the amount of damages. He stated that the Florida law “fills the gap” when it comes to protecting critical infrastructure. “We are asking parliament to fill the gap that exists in Canadian law,” said Smith. “A new law with stiffer penalties would send a strong message to the public about the seriousness of these crimes and create a greater deterrence for would-be criminals.” The committee’s study of copper wire theft in the telecom industry first kicked off on Tuesday, Dec. 12. No future meetings have yet been scheduled. If the committee does not meet next week, the earliest they could be expected to continue their study is some time during the week of Jan. 27, the first potential sitting day of the Senate after the Winter break. phalentm@thewirereport.ca

Telecom industry players look to Senate for greater copper theft prevention

Regulatory |
By Phalen Tynes-MacDonald
| December 12, 2024

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Telecom industry players look to Senate for greater copper theft prevention

Regulatory | By Phalen Tynes-MacDonald | December 12, 2024

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