Broadband consumers in Leeds have suffered a serious service outage after Virgin Media's fibre-optic cable network was targeted by vandals.

Subscribers were left without broadband, TV or phone connections yesterday (Tuesday March 23rd) when thieves struck for the third time in a fortnight.

It is believed the perpetrators mistook the fibre-optic cables used by Virgin Media for highly-valuable copper wires.

A spokesperson for the internet service provider said "malicious damage" was caused to the broadband provider's network in the LS11 area of Leeds, leading to a service outage.

"Our network engineers were dispatched immediately and restoration is currently underway and is being dealt with as a high priority," they added.

"We take incidents like this extremely seriously. The police have attended the scene, our internal security teams have been notified and a full investigation is currently under way."

In better news for Virgin Media, the firm recently showcased 200Mb broadband services at the Ideal Home Show 2010 at Earl's Court in London.