CUSTOMERS of telecoms provider LIME in the Chisholm Avenue area of Kingston 13 are today livid about being without service for four months as the utility company is yet to replace an approximately eight-foot piece of cable that was stolen.

Residents at 48 and 50 Chisholm Avenue have been without Internet and telephone services since November 2014, and efforts to have the telecoms provider repair the stolen cable have so far proved futile.

In addition, at least two residents say they and others have been asked to pay bills for the period since the cable has been stolen.

“It’s unfair,” a resident told the Jamaica Observer. “If [we were living uptown] this would have been fixed long time.”

The missing cable that serves the two sections of the thoroughfare was one of about six lengths of cable stolen by criminals along the busy thoroughfare that connects Waltham Park Road and Maxfield Avenue.

The others were repaired and covered with plastic sheathings to prevent further theft.

John McLeish, the operator of the JAGMS Enterprise, which sells cooking gas, told the Observer that he lost approximately $100,000 as a result of his telephone service being out.

LIME, meanwhile, told the Observer through a statement from Corporate Communications Manager Elon Parkinson, that it was aware of the situation and that it has “every intention of restoring services within the shortest time possible”.

“We understand how customers feel being without services as a result of cable theft. The thefts have put public safety at risk for the affected customers due to these unnecessary telephone and Internet service outages,” said the statement.

“This incident, like several others before, will cost LIME over $1 million in repair costs; the figure does not include lost revenue as a result of being unable to collect for services we would normally provide,” it added.

— Paul Henry