By Ebi Kesiena
MTN South Africa CEO Charles Molapsi has disclosed that over 1,000 vandalism incidents have been recorded at over 390 MTN installations since January 2022.
To halt the trend, the telecom giant is now accelerating investments in alternative power sources and expects to completely go off-grid at most sites in the very near future.
According to Molapisi the reason for going off the grid is to reduce cases of theft and vandalism, which spiked during hours of load shedding.
MTN’s internal data shows that over 390 unique sites have been vandalized since January 2022 alone, with criminals returning to the same sites more than five times after each repair.
Additionally, over 1,000 vandalism incidents have been recorded during this period in the Eastern Cape, with thefts of cables, batteries, equipment, and air conditioners all on the rise. Other items damaged and stolen are doors, containers, fences, security systems, and locks.
The telco giant also announced that it’s injecting R1.5 billion ($83 million) into a network resilience program that will reduce the impact of load shedding. South Africa recently declared an emergency to tackle its dire energy crisis owing to recent troubles with its national grid.
The country’s aging coal-powered electrical stations are falling apart and no longer coping with the surging demand for electricity in one of the most developed countries in Africa.
The crisis has led to daily blackouts that can sometimes last for hours and load shedding in some areas.
President Cyril Ramaphosa once declared a state of disaster and tasked the country’s state-owned energy company Eskom with finding a lasting solution to the crisis.
Some weeks ago, Molapisi hinted that MTN will have to raise prices to invest in backup power and theft-proofing their sites, further proof of the negative effects Eskom’s failure to modernize will continue to have on the South African economy.
