Phone towers tumble in ‘incredibly dangerous’ spate of attacks

On a stormy afternoon in Fullerton Cove, Debbie Brooks was hunkered down at home when she heard an almighty bang outside, and felt her house shake.

She assumed the cause was an exercise at the nearby RAAF base at Williamtown. But she was wrong. As the storm raged that April day, with winds gusting up to 57km/h, a 40-metre mobile phone tower in her back paddock had toppled from its base and crashed to the ground.

Workers clean up the damage after a vandalised mobile phone tower fell at Fullerton Cove.Credit: Debbie Brooks

“Somebody had taken all the nuts off the bottom base,” said Brooks, who runs a supported living home for people with disabilities from her property north of Newcastle. “There’s a possibility it could have killed someone.

“It left a dent in the ground that’s waist deep. And it took out my back fence.”

The vandalism was one of at least 11 similar attacks in NSW this year. Vandals remove nuts from the bolts that secure the towers to the ground, causing them to eventually topple.

A tower used by Telstra also fell in April at Candelo, near Bega, and a month later, the same thing happened to a tower used by Optus at Mullumbimby. Police are investigating.

Similar attacks in the past have been linked to 5G conspiracy theories.

The damaged tower at Candelo.Credit: Telstra

Industry spokespeople say the attacks are “incredibly dangerous” because they put lives at risk, not only when the tower tumbles but also by knocking out communications.

Technicians visiting towers to carry out maintenance have now been told to check all nuts and bolts for any signs of tampering while on site.

A government briefing paper estimates telecommunications companies spent almost $8 million in 2020 repairing damage caused by 5G conspiracy theorists, including replacing towers and other communications infrastructure.

Companies have been lobbying the government to increase criminal penalties for damaging critical infrastructure and the Department of Home Affairs says it is consulting businesses and government agencies about the issue.

Vandals are removing the nuts off bolts anchoring towers to their base.

It’s one reason Australia needs laws to stop the spread of misinformation and disinformation, according to the government. A Senate committee is examining a controversial bill introduced last month to combat such behaviour.

A spokesperson for Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said the security of telecommunications infrastructure was the responsibility of providers, but there were harsh penalties for those who damaged it, including imprisonment.

Service providers lease mobile phone towers from infrastructure companies such as Amplitel (majority-owned by Telstra) and Indara, which did not respond to a request for comment.

Cables are torn away when the towers fall.

Vodafone/TPG said such vandalism was “an incredibly dangerous and criminal activity that places our people, members of the public, and essential services at risk”. Telstra/Amplitel said such attacks also posed a safety threat to vulnerable customers. Optus said it was working with police in relation to the attacks.

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