Nova Scotia RCMP Arrest Several in Copper Thefts as $93 Million Pictou Network Nears 90% Coverage
Updated
Updated · Saltwire · Aug 24
Nova Scotia RCMP Arrest Several in Copper Thefts as $93 Million Pictou Network Nears 90% Coverage
1 articles · Updated · Saltwire · Aug 24
Summary
Several suspects have been arrested and charged in Nova Scotia copper-wire theft investigations, with RCMP also seizing tools and other items allegedly used to steal the metal.
Those thefts cut telecommunications lines across Pictou, Colchester, Cumberland and Hants counties, triggering power, phone and internet outages and damaging transformers and railway-crossing safety equipment.
In Pictou County, residents such as Lana MacEachern said stolen copper left rural households without reliable landline or cellphone service, heightening emergency concerns in areas already prone to weak mobile coverage.
The disruptions come as Pictou County pushes to replace old copper lines with fibre through its Rural Internet Project, a $93 million build backed by about $44 million in government grants.
County officials say the network, launched in 2016, should reach the high 90% range by fall, with VoIP landline service offered to fibre-connected homes as the copper era winds down.