For the fourth time in two weeks, some Innovative Telephone customers have lost service because thieves have stolen copper cable, the company reported Thursday.

It was the second time the theft from Innovative’s outside plant caused a service outage in the Estate Glynn and Estate Calquohoun areas. Earlier thefts of copper telephone cable affected customers in the vicinity of Estate New Works and the Coble area.

Thursday’s incident interrupted service for approximately 81 residents. Innovative’s line crew and splicers restored service in Estate Calquohoun by the afternoon and were working late Thursday evening to restore service in Estate Glynn.

“We are working closely with the local authorities to curb the recent attacks on our outside plant and are doing our best in-house to secure the facilities," said Dennis Chance, Innovative’s vice president of engineering.

The company reminded residents that purposeful disruption of telecommunication services is a federal offense because it may affect the ability of emergency responders and other individuals to communicate. Innovative said it will report this incident to both local and federal authorities, and encouraged anyone with information concerning the theft to contact the local authorities.