Mobile operator Vodacom says it continues to lose hundreds of millions of rand each year to vandalism and battery theft at its towers across the country. The net result is a blackout in the affected area.<\/p>\n
Andries Delport, Vodacom’s chief technology officer (CTO) said at media round-table in Sandton on Thursday that as many as 500 towers are impacted each month over a network exceeding 14,000 base stations. Deloprt said that where people take batteries, they also steal solar panels, while generators are also a target at times when Eskom implements load-shedding.<\/p>\n Vodacom said it will spend north of R9 billion on its network in 2019. The group is losing between R120-R130 million to vandalism and theft each year, with between 1,500 – 2,00 batteries stolen each month, Delport said.<\/p>\n He said that the group is in the process of replacing lead\u2013acid batteries, with more expensive lithium-ion batteries, which are\u00a0 significantly more expensive, but are easier to recharge, and will last longer – up to 10 years.<\/p>\n MTN<\/strong><\/p>\n MTN said last week, that it has had to deploy security guards to mobile towers across the country, as it continues to lose millions of rands to theft and vandalism.<\/p>\n In response to emailed questions from BusinessTech, MTN said that security officer deployments vary from day to day based on repair times.<\/p>\n It said that these deployments range from three days to over 30 days depending on the amount of damaged caused by the criminals.<\/p>\n “On average a compliment of over 150 security officers are deployed nationally per shift,” MTN said.<\/p>\n “These deployments excluded our tactical security interventions, we\u2019re unable to provide figures due to confidentiality on deployments.”<\/p>\n
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