A TELECOMMUNICATIONS firm says it hopes to restore its full internet service to people in Chelmsford after arsonists set fire to broadband cabinets.

Around 2,700 people were left without internet on Sunday after firebugs targeted three cabinets in Longstomps Avenue in the early hours of the morning.

Openreach said the damage left thousands of customers without internet, and some without a phoneline.

Engineers have been repairing the damage caused and Openreach hopes everyone affected by the outage will have internet restored no later than tomorrow.

Brentwood Live:

Kevin Murphy, Managing Director, Fibre Network Delivery at Openreach said, “Our engineers are making great progress on repairs, working around the clock to get the work done quickly and safely. “We’ve already restored services to hundreds of customers, and we’re hoping to have the work completed by tomorrow (Wednesday) evening.

We know how frustrating it is to lose connectivity and we’re doing what we can to prioritise fixes for vulnerable customers and key local services.

“That’s why it’s important for anyone experiencing issues to report it to their service provider who will then inform us.”

Essex Police has confirmed it is investigating the arson attack and asks anyone with information to contact them on 101 and quote crime reference number 42/18083/21.