The suburb of Bromhof, in northern Johannesburg, and surrounding areas were hit by cable thieves this week, which left more than 2 000 corporate and residential Telkom customers without access to telecommunications.
Telkom said yesterday that cable thieves broke through a concrete manhole roof and locked covering, at the weekend, stealing its underground cable infrastructure.
“The following suburbs in the Bromhof area, with the exchange code 791 [were affected by the theft]: Fontainebleau, Rand Park, Rand Park extension 2, Rand Park extension 3, Rand Park extension 10, Robindale, Robindale Hills, Malanshof and Malanshof extension 5.”
The fixed-line operator says a police investigation is under way, as is a restoration process. “We apologise to our customers who have been affected by this crime. [Telkom] will work around the clock to restore these services,” says Telkom managing executive for network field services, Theo Hess. He says services will be restored gradually.
Hess says cable theft is affecting Telkom's capacity to deliver services within acceptable time intervals. “Telkom and its customers are heavily impacted by the deliberate cycle of cable theft. This is damaging businesses, depriving our customers of a basic service and, in some cases, adversely affecting their security.”
Counter-measures
In a bid to counter the scourge of copper cable theft, says Hess, Telkom has adopted a number of interventions, including armed security firms, wireless alternatives to copper, burying vulnerable aerial cable routes, and working with bodies such as the Non-Ferrous Theft Combating Committee, under Business Against Crime, and the South African Police Services.
Telkom says it has also launched a campaign to raise awareness of its toll-free crime report line, 0800 124 000. “Members of the public are urged to assist Telkom by making use of this number if they see any suspicious activities.”
The company says affected customers will qualify for pro-rata rebates on their line rentals. “Customers are advised to call our billing enquiries service on 10210 to enquire about rebates for the period during which their lines were non-functional. Ordinarily, once an account of a service is linked to a bulk-fault, the credit is automatically passed to the customer.”
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