Canada’s largest telecoms are scrambling to stop copper thieves who are knocking out landline, internet and cell service across the country.

In July, a spate of seven copper thefts cut landline service for more than 3,500 people for multiple days in Calgary. The same month, in Sheffield, Ont., thieves knocked out local phone service for almost two weeks, while in Corbeil, Ont., two copper raids left residents with unreliable cell phone service for days.

“It’s happening every day,” said David Joice, network operations director at Bell Canada. The firm’s infrastructure has been hit more than 2,270 times since 2022, with more than 500 of those thefts occurring in the first half of this year. In July alone, there were about 200 such incidents—the highest monthly amount the company has recorded. Bell said copper theft now accounts for 88 per cent of physical security incidents on its network.

Stopping copper theft, though, is a little like playing Whac-a-Mole. “You almost have to bet where they’re going to steal it,” Joice said.

Copper is in demand. It’s a crucial component in everything from solar panels to electric vehicles and computer chips to plumbing parts. With demand outstripping supply and U.S. tariffs on certain copper products, prices hit a record high of US$5.69 per pound in July, after beginning the year around US$4 per pound. At scrap dealers, copper can go for over $5 per pound.

Anne Martin, Telus’s vice-president of network engineering and operations, told The Logic the company has also seen a spike in copper thefts. Between January and July such incidents increased 70 per cent. 

Thieves are also becoming more cunning, Martin said. “Thieves go to pretty extreme lengths to do some of these thefts, even trying to appear as official as possible,” she said. Some dress up, donning hard hats and high-vis jackets so they look like regular maintenance workers.

Vandalism-related outages (including copper theft) across Rogers’ networks have increased 400 per cent since 2022, the company said in a December submission to a Senate transport committee. In May 2024 alone, the company said, vandalism outages impacted roughly 35,000 customers across the country. Rogers said the repair costs can be as high as $1 million per attack.

Copper thieves have looted construction sites and residential homes, and even stolen copper plaques and urns from gravesites. Electricity infrastructure is another target. In July, four Ontario men were arrested after stealing around $100,000 of copper from 33 hydro poles north of Sudbury. The same month, a man was arrested for breaking into a Manitoba Hydro facility in Winnipeg to steal copper wire.

Kari Veno, director of communications at the Canadian Association of Recycling Industries, said its members have been taking precautions to avoid buying stolen copper, including recording who they’re buying from and working with local police if they suspect materials are stolen. The association also runs a scrap theft alert system that notifies facilities operating within a 100-mile radius of any reported thefts.

Bell’s network stretches across the country, and the company says it can’t feasibly install security measures everywhere, Joice said. After a theft, he said the company will typically station a security guard at the site in case the thieves try to strike again in the midst of repair work, and has installed more security cameras. In areas regularly targeted by thieves, Bell has installed alarm systems that detect when infrastructure is being tampered with. While Bell has had some successes, Joice conceded the good news has been limited.

Patricia Garcia, Bell’s public affairs manager, said 79 people have been arrested and charged with mischief, theft or possession related to copper theft on its network since Jan. 1, 2024, with 34 of them arrested in 2025. The company also has almost a dozen active civil cases. To date, it has received a $112,000 default judgment in one case, and a $255,000 settlement in another.

Martin said Telus has also installed alarms, security cameras and fences, hired security guards and locked or welded manholes shut.

The damage from thefts can be significant. Joice estimates Bell has had to spend millions of dollars a year to replace damaged infrastructure, including buying new copper cables—and that’s only gotten more expensive given the rising demand for the metal and declining number of copper cable-makers. The company’s fibre lines often run alongside copper and can get damaged too, knocking out services for even more customers.

Martin said that after the string of thefts in Calgary, Telus had to bring in crews from surrounding areas, including British Columbia, to repair the damage.

Both Bell and Telus have called on provincial and federal governments to crack down on theft by increasing penalties and amending the Criminal Code. Telus is also calling for greater regulation on scrap dealers.

Federal Department of Justice spokesperson Kwame Bonsu told The Logic there are “a broad range of options to respond to such conduct.” Copper thieves can face up to 10 years in prison for theft or mischief while a new offense, added in 2024, means people can also be charged with sabotage of critical infrastructure in certain circumstances, also with a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment.

Ross Johnson, president of Bridgehead Security Consulting, which works primarily with the electricity sector, believes tougher penalties could curb thefts. In some U.S. states, he says copper thefts at power substations have fallen after the Federal Bureau of Investigation started laying charges against thieves with penalties of up to 20 years in prison.

In a December 2024 Senate transport committee investigation into copper theft in Canada, Alberta RCMP chief superintendent Peter Tewfik said the force had found that “sites affected by scrap metal theft often don’t have basic prevention infrastructure in place” like fences, lights, cameras, controlled entry or security guards. Though he did add that some infrastructure, including telecommunications wires, are impractical to protect that way. 

Telecoms are trying to accelerate their move to fibre to cut down on copper theft. It’s a change that Joice said would also slash the power usage and carbon footprint of the industry—as well as deterring thieves. As of June 2024, fibre represented 32.7 per cent of total broadband connections in Canada, which still lags well behind the OECD average of 44.6 per cent.