People living and working in part of Hertfordshire have been left without broadband after rats chewed through cables.
Openreach said its network in the Tring area had been affected.
Engineers discovered nesting rats had managed to chew through ducting, outer casing and multiple cables – equipment which usually needed a drill to get through.
The company apologised and said it was an “extremely rare” incident.
An Openreach spokesperson said the repair effort had been hampered because access to its underground chambers had been covered over within a private property.