CenturyLink says copper theft led to southeast Denver phone outages

Some residents and businesses in southeast Denver were without landline phone service for more than a week, leaving many frustrated by what they described as a lack of communication from service provider CenturyLink.

CBS Colorado reached out to CenturyLink and a company representative said the outage was the result of being targeted by copper thieves.

Phone service was restored Friday morning at Bonnie Brae Flowers, a longtime flower shop on Evans Avenue. Owner Bell Mendenhall said the business was without landline service for more than 10 days.

"It's nice to have phones again when you do a lot of business over the phone," Mendenhall said. "People call when they want to send flowers."

Mendenhall said the outage led to a significant loss of business.

"When our phones went down, business dropped pretty substantially," she said.

Mendenhall said the shop changed the phone number on its website to a cellphone and received complaints from customers who were unable to reach the business.

The shop estimates the outage cost at several thousand dollars in lost revenue. Mendenhall said the business is now switching to a new phone provider.

"I'm really disappointed in the lack of communication for something that is our lifeline here," she said. "It was disheartening that nobody could give me any information."

The CenturyLink spokesperson stated that thieves recently stole multiple pieces of critical equipment, including specialized copper cabling required to provide landline service. The company's complete statement lies below:

CenturyLink is aware of a service disruption affecting some customers in the Denver area, and we take this matter very seriously. Recently, thieves stole multiple pieces of critical equipment, including specialized copper cabling essential for providing landline service. Copper theft is endangering public safety in Colorado by disrupting 911 services, as well as telephone service for fire stations, hospitals, businesses, and residents. This crime threatens critical infrastructure and is, unfortunately, a growing issue.

CenturyLink is deploying covert surveillance and GPS alarms in high-risk areas to deter and identify criminal activity. We have also increased security around key facilities and are working closely with law enforcement and local officials to combat copper theft. Additionally, our public policy team has been working closely with state legislators to get a bill passed that would address the issue.

 Our operations and engineering teams are working diligently to restore service as quickly as possible. Impacted customers can visit CenturyLink's website to request a bill credit for the outage: centurylink.com/