Hundreds of businesses were left without telephones and email for more than a week after thieves ripped out 100m of BT cable.
One company hit by the theft claims its bills for lost revenue will run into £20,000 and health workers based in the area were forced to rely on mobile phones and laptop computers.
Police are investigating after the 10cm thick cable was removed from Cranes Farm Road outside Basildon's New Holland Ford offices.
Five hundred BT customers, including Basildon Primary Care Trust (PCT) and scores of firms on the Phoenix Business Park, off Christopher Martin Road, Basildon, lost phone and email services.
Thieves are believed to have cut through the cable which ran across a grass verge and made off in a vehicle.
The equipment, worth around £2,000, is thought to have been chopped up and sold as scrap.
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