As intentional acts of sabotage rise against the nation’s communications infrastructure, industry wants the federal government to do something about it. USTelecom, NTCA –The Rural Broadband Association, America’s Communication Association (ACA), and NCTA –The Internet and Television Association, wrote to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and FBI Kash Patel to highlight what they call a rapidly growing threat “demanding urgent, coordinated federal, state, and local action.”
Attacks on communications inflicts cascading damage across the economy, public safety and national security, they say. “When a fiber-optic cable is cut, or communications equipment is stolen, 911 centers go offline, hospitals lose access to cloud-based patient records, financial transactions stall, air traffic control and logistics systems stumble, and first responders are cut off from their dispatch centers. In short, our networks serve as lifelines that must be defended as vigilantly as power grids, water supplies, and transportation hubs.”
The trade groups cite their 2025 report, Protecting the Nation’s Critical Communications Infrastructure from Theft & Vandalism, which stated there were at least 5,770 reported incidents of targeted theft and vandalism against communications infrastructure reported nationwide in the last seven months of 2024, Inside Towers reported. “These attacks demonstrate increasing sophistication, coordination and intent to disrupt services with potential economic and societal consequences,” say the lobbyists. “For example, in multiple cases, criminals have disabled 911 call centers, interrupted first responder networks, impacted airport operations, and even severed communications links at military bases—actions that far exceed petty theft and directly jeopardize public safety.”
USTelecom, NTCA, ACA, and NCTA encourage DHS and the FBI to:
- Treat these infrastructure attacks as domestic terrorism when the facts warrant,
- Allocate additional federal investigation and enforcement resources to high-incident regions, and
- Expand intelligence sharing initiatives across federal, state, and local entities as well as with communications providers.
They also ask DHS and the FBI to support their efforts to urge Congress to amend Title 18, Section 1362 of the U.S. Code “so that willful acts against private communications networks—not just systems controlled or operated by the government—are explicitly criminalized at the federal level. While existing statutes reach government-targeted attacks, a gap remains in protecting the vast array of privately owned but publicly essential networks,” they write.
USTelecom, NTCA, ACA, and NCTA urge the administration to support H.R. 2784, Stopping the Theft and Destruction of Broadband Act of 2025. This bill reaffirms federal jurisdiction and imposes penalties for destruction and theft of private communications network facilities.
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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