Depending on existing services and the area the depth according to ITU ranges from 60cm (then concreted in Hard Rock) to 1.5m in loose soil.

If someone wants to sabotage he will do it, even at 10m ..

Unfortunately we are target of an average of more than 5 acts of sabotage a week .. The positive side of this is that we have learned to fix the cable in a very short time.

People who do this are costing EVERYBODY money, not only the operator …

Kai

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From: kictanet-bounces+kai.wulff=kdn.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+kai.wulff=kdn.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of Harry Hare
Sent: Saturday, April 11, 2009 10:18
To: kai.wulff@kdn.co.ke
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
Subject: [kictanet] Sabotage suspected in Silicon Valley fiber outage

Hello all,

I have noticed some of the optical fibre cable being buried around Nairobi is less than 4 feet under, is there a standard depth that providers should adhere to. Having the cable too shallow could give saboteurs something to do and have serious ramifications on everything that depends on these networks....Lets learn from stories like these – deep cables and secure manholes, at least.

Harry
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Sabotage suspected in Silicon Valley fiber outage
By Paul Boutin
The Industry Standard

SAN FRANCISCO (04/09/2009) - Forget Twitter downtime. This is serious: Around 2 A.M. local time on Thursday, a fiber optic cable running ten feet beneath a Silicon Valley roadway was damaged, possibly as deliberate sabotage. A surprising number of services ranging from broadband Internet to mobile phones, were knocked out. Repairs are still in progress, with no schedule for completion.

The cable is owned by AT&T but leased to Verizon.

The San Jose Mercury News reports:

It appears somebody opened a manhole in South San Jose, climbed down 8 to 10 feet and cut four or five fiber-optic cables.

The outage is affecting cell phones, land lines and Internet access for Verizon customers in Morgan Hill, Gilroy, San Martin and Santa Cruz County.

"Verizon is completely down; other carriers are intermittent at best," said a spokesman for Santa Clara County. There is no timetable for the service to return.

Service is also affected in South San Jose around Monterey Road and Bailey Avenue.

ATM machines may also be affected.

Police say they believe the line was deliberately cut, as were several other cables in the area.

Why would someone sabotage a vital telecommunications link? The Merc alludes to a union contract with AT&T that expired last weekend, but no formal accusations have been made.

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