Vodacom South Africa has mentioned it has seen a spike in battery theft and vandalism at its base stations in some elements of the nation within the lead-up to the festive season.
The prison exercise is extra prevalent in some areas than others, it mentioned – and it warned the issue is business vast and never solely impacts telecommunications operators.
“Battery theft and vandalism at base stations continues to be an enormous problem for the telco sector,” Vodacom mentioned in an announcement on Wednesday.
“Though incidents of battery theft and vandalism have been secure in some areas with no important improve within the quantity of incidents being skilled, in September alone our operations in KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and northern Gauteng recorded the best variety of tried thefts,” it mentioned.
“These prison actions trigger disruptions to community companies, leading to frequent downtime for purchasers. The implications transcend the prices of repairing and restoring infrastructure. They’ve a major influence on communities that rely on connectivity as an important lifeline,” mentioned Vodacom Group chief threat officer Johan van Graan.
Vodacom mentioned it loses about R100-million to vandalism and battery theft every year. The price of restoring connectivity after such incidents can value as much as R100 000 per web site, relying on the extent of the injury and the situation.
Secure
“Incidents of battery theft have been secure with no important improve on this monetary 12 months. We attribute this to a number of components which embody, however will not be restricted to, the rise of web site hardening the place websites develop into extra of a safety vault to guard the infrastructure from thieves, cementing the batteries in vaults and putting in concrete cubes to accommodate batteries, to using hi-tech safety applied sciences deployed on websites to detect and deter the prison parts,” mentioned Vodacom.
“Our group engagement initiative, the place now we have partnered with native communities and work with police to function monitoring personnel to assist safeguard our websites, has yielded constructive outcomes. Critically, our partnership with personal safety firms and regulation enforcement businesses has been a significant contributor in stopping break-ins and led to profitable arrests of criminals and prosecution,” mentioned Van Graan.
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Excessive copper costs aren’t serving to. The skyrocketing value of the steel has emboldened thieves to steal infrastructure that impacts the electrical energy grid and demanding companies reminiscent of hospitals, railways and telecoms in elements of the nation,” mentioned Vodacom. – © 2024 NewsCentral Media
