A deliberate attack on telecommunications infrastructure in Spartanburg County left portions of the Upstate without internet and phone service early Sunday morning, triggering a criminal investigation and a significant reward offer from the affected provider.
Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded Sunday morning after a fiber optic cable on Asheville Highway had been intentionally severed. Crews from the telecommunications company arrived on scene to assess the damage. The outage rippled across multiple communities, affecting residents and businesses in Inman, Tryon, Landrum, and Saluda.
Among those impacted by the service interruption were Spartanburg Regional Medical Center and Milliken & Company, one of Spartanburg County’s most significant private employers. Milliken, which maintains its global headquarters in Spartanburg, relies on reliable communications infrastructure for its manufacturing and research operations across the region.
Investigators with the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office said the cut appeared to be an attempted theft — someone targeting the lines in the belief that they contained copper, which can be sold for scrap value. The assumption proved wrong. Spectrum’s fiber optic lines carry no copper; the material has no resale value to thieves. Despite the apparent futility of the theft attempt, the criminal act still disabled service for thousands of customers and disrupted critical services.
The attack is not isolated. Since 2025, approximately 12 similar criminal incidents have been recorded in Spartanburg County alone, with additional attacks occurring in surrounding counties. The problem extends far beyond the Upstate: across the country, the telecommunications industry recorded more than 15,000 such incidents between June 2024 and June 2025. Infrastructure attacks of this kind have become a nationwide pattern, targeting providers large and small.
The provider released a statement acknowledging the scope of the problem, noting that criminal attacks on communications infrastructure have become an issue affecting the entire telecommunications industry and are not limited to any single region or provider.
A $25,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction in connection with the Asheville Highway cutting. Anyone with information can contact Spectrum’s tip line at (833) 404-8477 or reach out to the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office.
