It’s not just telecom operators that copper is out of fashion. Because the transition to fiber and THD does not cause the price of copper to fall, quite the contrary. At 10 euros per kilo – three times more expensive than 10 years ago – copper thieves are having a field day on telecom networks and rail networks.
But here are two Breton employees of Orange telling the local newspaper The Telegram to have found a trick to eliminate, or even eradicate, copper theft.
These are “snitches” whose composition remains very mysterious. They make it possible to “detect and trace stolen portions of underground cable”. And it seems that these cookies mainly make it possible to locate the places of theft to allow the police to intervene before the thieves make their way. Because Orange already detects network cuts in real time.
“A dozen different devices”
In detail, these mysterious devices are composed of a “shutter opening system” and “GPS” (for geolocation). Between the lines, we therefore understand that it is a connected object which alerts of the opening of a draw chamber while sending its geolocation. These pulling chambers provide access to the cables, with a section of approximately 300 meters.
And the two inventors promise to fight against thieves the creation of “a dozen different devices”, with technologies such as artificial intelligence.
Still, in Brittany in recent weeks no less than five teams of copper cable thieves have been arrested. And the flights stopped. The Paris region would also be covered by this device, which would begin to produce their effect.
Telecom networks are not only victims of theft. But also sabotage. At the end of October 2022, major sabotage occurred in the Marseille region.