Telkom hit by cable theft
Last night (19 June 2013) cable thieves cut and removed several main Telkom cables, causing major service disruptions to Telkom services in the Ferndale and Strydom Park, Randburg area. This is the second incident of theft in these areas in as many weeks.
Customers with the exchange codes (011) 791, 792 and 793 in the Ferndale and Strydom park extension suburbs are affected. In total, 2,173 business, corporate and residential customers are affected.
Telkom has commenced with the restoration of the affected services. Several teams have been deployed to expedite the repair process.
“The services will be progressively restored by Sunday 23 June 2013. We apologise for the inconvenience caused by this outage and we assure customers that we are doing all that we can to curb any further cable theft in the area,” said Theo Hess, Telkom Managing Executive for Network Field Services.
The incidents have been reported to the South African Police Services, who have launched an investigation. Telkom’s internal security will also conduct its own investigation.
Combating copper cable theft
“Copper cable theft remains a major inhibitor to Telkom’s capability to maintain and improve service levels. We appeal to customers in this area to be on high alert and to report any suspicious activity to Telkom,” said Hess.
- Telkom 24 hour crime/fraud hotline number: 0860 124 000
Hess explained that in Telkom’s ongoing efforts to counter the scourge of copper cable theft, it has adopted various interventions, which include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Proactively alarming critical and sensitive cable routes and employing services of armed security firms.
- Deploying various wireless technologies that are alternatives to copper.
- Assessing vulnerable aerial cable routes; where feasible these are buried underground.
- Working closely with the Non-Ferrous Theft Combating Committee (NFTCC) under the auspices of Business Against Crime and the South African Police Services, to jointly find ways of protecting our cable network.
- Implementing a national campaign to raise awareness of the Company’s toll-free crime-report line (0800 124 000) as the co-operation and support of all communities is vital in stamping out cable theft. All members of the public are urged to assist Telkom by making use of this number if they see any suspicious activities.
More on cable theft
SA losing R5 billion a year to cable theft
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