Johannesburg – Telecommunications companies have seen a spike in incidents of battery theft at base stations, which has affected the quality of network connections.
Ernest Paul from MTN SA said this challenge, coupled with power cuts, has made it difficult to maintain network stability.
“Though the vandals and thieves have a direct impact on network availability and stability, load-shedding and load reduction, which has increased over the past five years, has emerged as the biggest contributor to our challenges,” he said.
“The power outages also continue to play into the hands of criminals and criminal syndicates as they find it easier to access the infrastructure under the cover of darkness.”
MTN said its latest data shows that the total incidents of theft and vandalism of MTN infrastructure amounted to 378 in May, up from 312 in April.
The company added that of more concern, is that copper theft is on the rise; there were 94 incidents in May up from 63 incidents a year ago.
Cable theft causes many parts of the economy to come to a standstill and it is expensive to replace such infrastructure.
The SA Chamber of Commerce and Industry estimates that cable theft costs the SA economy R5-billion to R7-billion a year. Telkom said that in the past year alone, it has lost 7 841 batteries.
“As illustration of the impact of the problem, Telkom could have built about 35 new base stations with the money lost from battery theft.
“This vandalism destroys back-up power that should keep communications active when lights go off and as a result; your productivity, connectivity and connection to those you need to be in touch with is affected,” Telkom said in a statement.
Also read: 1,914 MTN subscriber accounts compromised by cybercriminals
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