Theft reduction trial

Our network is under constant threat and has been attacked several times by theives who cut and steal our cables.

To fight this and keep the phone, television and broadband service upheld at all times, our teams in Openreach operations and security got together with Crimestoppers and SmartWater in a trial initiative in 2011.

We targeted South London, an area that's been most affected by cable theft, with an aim to reduce cable theft and engage with the general public.

We wanted the community to know:

1. why we were there and the effect that cable theft has on communications – after all, it's hard to dial 999 if you haven't got a line.
2. that it's not our fault. We're the proud guardians of the infrastructure that delivers the data, broadband and voice services that our customers sell. We take good care of it and have invested heavily to protect it. We want the public to know that we're doing everything we can.
3. that we need the public's help. We'd like to ask them to be vigilant. We're encouraging them to report any strange vehicles, people acting suspiciously or anything out of the ordinary. If people are wary of contacting the police, they can ring Crimestoppers anonymously. We're offering a reward of up to £1,000 for information that leads to a conviction.

All this still stands. We want everyone to know that we're doing everything we can to fight cable theft and to keep you connected. That's why we started this trial scheme, and it's proved so successful that it's now being rolled out nationally.