Globe taps LGUs, cops vs cable thieves

MANILA, Philippines — Wireless giant Globe Telecom Inc. is tightening the clamps on cable theft by working with local government units and law enforcement agencies in areas with the highest incidence.

Citing data from its monitoring, Globe identified Cebu City, Quezon City and Manila as areas of concern for cable cutting, requiring the company to ask help from authorities.

For the year, Globe has monitored 498 cases of cable theft in Cebu City, 171 in Quezon City, 161 in Manila, 118 in Mandaue City, 73 in Valenzuela, 67 in Malabon, 64 in Pasig and 62 in Consolacion, Cebu.

Even though incidents are decreasing, Globe wants to wipe out cable cutting as a whole. Globe vice president of broadband business Raymond Policarpio said internet services are interrupted when cable lines are stolen, disrupting the education, livelihood and work of affected subscribers.

Policarpio warned that compromised cables may also harm communities who need connectivity to respond to calamities. As such, he asked authorities to heighten their campaign against people behind cable theft.

“Globe works together with authorities and communities to combat this illegal activity to ensure undisrupted service,” Policarpio said.

Globe vice president for external affairs Patrick Gloria said the telco expects to further trim cable cutting incidence through its collaboration with the government.

Last year, Globe hopped on an industry-wide initiative named Oplan Kontra Putol, which intends to inform the public about the dangers of and penalties for cable theft.

Globe, on its own, is replacing its copper wires with fiber optics to prevent criminals from taking interest in its cable assets. Unlike copper wires, Globe said fiber lines have no resale value when brought to junk shops.

Republic Act 10515, the Anti-Television and Cable Internet Tapping Act of 2013, criminalizes the removal of connectivity assets, including broadband lines. The law sets a fine of as much as P100,000 and imprisonment of up to five years for cable thieves.

Apart from cable cutting, Globe lamented that it continues to suffer from asset robbery at various facilities.

As of June, Globe has recorded 1,545 incidents wherein assets like batteries, fuel and hardware were stolen. These cases led to a total of 207 outages in 124 sites nationwide.