Stiffer penalties sought for theft of telco cables

A consumer advocacy group has called on the government to institute stiffer penalties against cable theft, saying these incidents have a significant long-term effect on the country's digital infrastructure and economy.

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"This is tantamount to economic sabotage," said CitizenWatch Philippines coconvenor Orlando Oxales in a statement.

"No less than the National Telecommunication Commission has said these lead to millions of pesos in losses and service disruptions." This year, telecom companies have so far reported about 1,800 incidents of cable theft across the country, leading to service outages that affected approximately 100,000 customers. Each incident is estimated to cost around P2 million, representing repair of damaged infrastructure, according to the NTC.