On November 22, representatives of OJSC North-West Telecom attended a Round Table sponsored by Rosbalt information and related to the increased frequency of cable cutting and stealing in communication lines and facilities. Currently, this problem is pressing both for traditional and alternative communication operators.

The Round Table was attended by representatives of the Government of St. Petersburg and managers of the largest telecommunication companies of St. Petersburg and the North-Western Federal District: N.W.Telecom, CJSC PeterStar, LLC SCS Sovintel, CJSC Severen-Telecom, and OJSC Rostelecom.

Associate Regional Manager and Technical Director of the St. Petersburg Subsidiary of N.W.Telecom, named a problem common for communication operators – catastrophic increase of damage to communication networks attributable to unlawful acts of stealing of communication cable containing nonferrous metals. According to him, “since 2005, the number of cable thefts on the lines of the St. Petersburg Subsidiary of N.W.Telecom has grown fivefold, from 116 in 2005 to more than 550 in 9months of 2007. In this year alone, 50,788 private apartments in St. Petersburg suffered from cable thefts, among which are about two thousand apartments provided with alarm systems. Fulfilling its commitments to the users, North-West Telecom bears these immense costs annually, while the money could be spent not on theft response but to rebuilding and updating of the network, and on higher quality of services provided.”

Alexander A. Skryl also listed the essential actions by North-West Telecom to prevent such cases and to minimize their effects. He said that the main causes of this cable stealing problem extending beyond the scope of one company were in uncontrolled access to the basement spaces of residential houses, and unregulated purchase of nonferrous metal scrap from individuals by respective receiving points, which promotes telephone cable thefts, mainly be drug addicts and homeless persons.

The speech of the Technical Director of the St. Petersburg Subsidiary of N.W.Telecom was supported and expanded by Vladimir I. Rusin, Line Facilities Manager of PeterStar, who   commented that the cable stealing problem is related not only to copper cable but also to fiber optic cable. Anton V. Zhilinsky, Manager of the Development Department of SCS Sovintel, focused his speech on the costs of a communication operator repairing such damage, which are primarily costs incurred by customers who are prevented from using telecommunication services for a certain time, and on the company’ inability to invest the related funds in the network development and connection of new users. Mikhail B. Ladin, Associate Manager of the Security Department of Severen-Telecom, detailed that Internet providers and house networks are very much affected by such criminal activity, and expressed his opinion that unlocked basements and lofts in residential houses are also a plain danger to human life, which should not be forgotten.

Evgeny P. Averin, Chief of the Telecommunication Support and Communication Industry Development Department, Committee for IT and Communications of the Government of St. Petersburg, thanked the St. Petersburg Subsidiary of N.W.Telecom for information on cable cutting and stealing immediately provided to the Government, which is of great help in dealing with citizens who apply to the Government with the same problems as the operators.

After answering the journalists’ questions, the Round Table guests noted that the raised problems could only be in an integrated approach actively involving all parties concerned, i.e. communication operators, Administration of St. Petersburg, and the Agency of the Interior as the authority responsible for suppression of criminal infringements. The representatives of communication operators agreed to draft, sign, and send to the Government of St. Petersburg a petition describing the situation and containing proposals of solution to the existing problem within two weeks. Its purpose is to draw attention of the authorities to the serious and widespread nature of the situation, which not only prevents providing telecommunication services of proper quality, but also disturbs proper functioning of other services in the city, and directly affects all residents of St. Petersburg – being a threat to their private safety, because due to illegal cutting and stealing of telephone cable, thousands of the city’s residents become unable to contact the outside world, e.g. to call in an emergency service (ambulance, firemen, or police), for their apartments’ security systems, fire safety systems etc. are disconnected due to communication breakdowns.