VEREENIGING. – “Our investigation into this matter shows that recent network issues in Three Rivers, Vereeniging, have been caused by vandalism and battery theft on our base station sites in addition to power failures on the back of load shedding.”

Kennedy states that when load shedding occurs, a cellphone tower remains fully functional for as long as the batteries last or the back-up generator keeps running.

“Once power is fully depleted, the tower stops working entirely and, depending on the configuration of nearby towers, may cause a coverage area to black out entirely or for customers to experience intermittent service.

“Our towers do use batteries as a back-up but these do have limited power and will eventually fail. We have put proactive measures in place to help mitigate the effects of widespread load shedding. For instance, we have deployed generators at numerous sites in the area and are working as hard as possible to keep customers connected.”

Another finding was that base stations in the area have been vandalised on numerous occasions.  “Base stations of local network providers are increasingly being targeted for theft and vandalism and what we are finding through our investigations is that organised syndicates are coming up with unique approaches to commit this crime. On a daily basis local network providers experience multiple incidents of break-ins in our base stations sites.”

Kennedy explains that cellular base stations are the only form of connectivity available to many communities and when criminals target these base stations to steal diesel, power cables and mainly batteries, they can cut off hundreds if not thousands of people.

“Each theft incident can result in the network in that area being down for days, and can severely impact businesses as well as anyone relying on the internet to study. We repeatedly see situations where people can’t make emergency calls and are put in danger by these criminals and sooner or later these criminals will cost someone’s life.”

It is estimated that local cellphone network providers lose hundreds of millions of rands worth of damage to its base stations annually as a result of theft and vandalism which ultimately impacts the cost of mobile services.

“We have ramped up the fight against this criminal activity, implementing new measures to make sure that the thieves are caught and prosecuted. We are working closely with law enforcement agencies and security companies to arrest thieves for prosecution.”

Kennedy believes that the number one line of defence against vandalism is the local community. “We urge anyone who sees suspicious activity around our base stations to report it to the police. It’s in everyone’s best interest to act before their signal is cut off. We’d like to urge ordinary members of the community to report incidents of battery theft or site vandalism by calling our toll free number: 0822419952 or SAPS on 10111.”

Kennedy said they are looking into moving a fuel cell at Orange Farm Ext 1 to increase the standby time for the site in Three Rivers as this will help boost network connectivity for customers in that area.