Verizon service in Virginia county interrupted by copper theft

Verizon (NYSE: VZ) is once again fighting to maintain network uptime, this time in in Wise County, Va., as a recent spate of copper thefts left hundreds of customers without service.

The telco said that over the past 18 days, it reported four incidents of copper theft, which disrupted serve to almost 250 customers.

Wise County has been a ripe target for thieves. Over the past year, Verizon said that it has incurred nine cases of copper theft.

Marlon Gunter, Verizon's area customer operations manager for southwest Virginia, said "We are working closely with law enforcement officials to find and fully prosecute those responsible for these recent criminal acts."

Outside of Virginia, Verizon has seen a similar issue in Lawrence and Washington County, Penn., where over 9,000 feet of copper cable was stolen.

Copper theft continues to be an issue for all of the largest U.S.-based incumbent service providers.

AT&T (NYSE: T), FairPoint (Nasdaq: FRP), Frontier (Nasdaq: FTR) and Windstream (Nasdaq: WIN) have been waging wars on copper theft with help from community members and state lawmakers.

A number of states including West Virginia, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky and Washington have developed laws to help curb copper theft.

For more:
- see the release

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