More than 1,500 homes and businesses were disconnected from their telephone and internet connections after mindless thieves stole 180m of cabling from a British Telecom junction box.
The attack was reported to BT at around 9pm last night, after three men were spotted attacking the box in Great Sankey, Warrington.
The vandalism affected the Westbrook and Callands areas of Warrington, which both include large housing estates, and left residents unable to use telephone or internet serivces, including 999 emergency telephone calls.
A BT spokesman promised residents' phones would be working by late Sunday morning.
He said: "There has been a theft on two sections of major cables. Engineering teams are working around the clock to restore service and expect to have restored service to all affected customers by the end of tomorrow morning.
"It is a complex repair job requiring the replacement of two 90m underground cables. So far we've received reports of faults from 284 customers."
He said he believed at least 1,500 homes and business would be affected.
Three suspected thieves have been arrested and are being questioned by police.
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