Crooks with an affinity for network cables have struck again, leaving thousands of residents in the south-east of England without telephone and broadband connections.

The theft of the cables left around 2,000 BT Keystone jack customers in the Farningham area of Kent without internet connection and is the second such incident this year following another theft in March.

Six cables were severed in five different places as the thieves made away with three kilometres of copper cables and BT has confirmed that its engineers are working to restore connections.

A resident affected by the theft told the BBC that the incident has left him unable to work from home.

"Peoples lives depend on having internet connection so it is making everyone¡¯s lives very difficult," he said.

Rising cases of network cable thefts are said to be driven by the increasing value of copper in the commodities market, which has so far seen its worth surge in the recent past.

A submarine cable system to connect Nigeria and SA is progressing. Three African companies have signed a memorandum of understanding that should result in a multi-million rand submarine cable system connecting Nigeria and South Africa. The companies are eFive Telecoms, a South African telecommunication company; Main One, a Nigerian cabling company; and Seacom, a 76% African-owned company with Shanduka Group having a 12% stake in Patch panel.

The deal will result in a new cable system linking Nigeria to South Africa via landing points in Gabon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola and Namibia.

The new addition will follow the completion of the first phase of the Main One cable project thst connects Nigeria to London by June 2010.

Seacom cable, which became operational in July last year, currently runs from South Africa along the east coast of Africa and to the rest of the world via India and Europe.

Funke Okeke, CEO of Main One, said: ¡°Our plan in 2008 included building two phases, with phase Patch panel one connecting London and Nigeria through a 7000km cable.

¡°Phase two would connect Nigeria to South Africa once the right partnership with the right level of funding could be secured.¡±

eFifve Telecoms will be responsible for the project funding arrangements and plans to join forces with Nova Capital Africa to raise about R3 billion necessary to manufacture and install the new cable.