Vandalism Left 40.000 Without Cellular Service on Friday
Hello, hello (Aló, aló) was a common phrase for some 40.000 cellular
customers last Friday as the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad
(ICE) confirms that the theft and vandalism to equipment in Tejar de El
Guarco in Cartago affected cellular communications in Cartago, San Pedro
and the province of Límon.
Vandals damaged a fibre-optic cable, believing they were stealing a
copper cable. Vandals have attacked several other ICE installations to
steal copper cabling for resale on the black market.
The attack on Friday caused interruptions to the central switching
system that affected the entire country, though service to the central
station was re-established in a short time.
The attacks of the last months has cost ICE more than ˘65 million
colones (us$140.000 dollars) in repairs and added security measures to
curb the vandalism.
ICE is now looking at installing a new security system to it's
installations and asking for additional support from the Ministerio de
Seguridad Publica (police).
Geovanni Bonilla, a director at ICE, says that thieves don't know or
realize that fibre-optic cables don't contain copper and leave at the
scene after causing the damage.
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