Over 1 500 Telkom customers have suffered major service disruptions due to the ongoing scourge of cable theft.
Telkom services in the Pretoria suburbs of Hennopspark, Akasia and Rietvlei exchange areas were disrupted when cable thieves cut and removed several main cables in last night.
The theft, says Telkom, affected customers with the exchange codes 653, 480 and 549 in the Chantelle extensions, Hartbeeshoek, Amandasig, Karenpark, Verresig, Mooikloof Ridge extensions, Rietvallei, Rooihuiskraal extensions and Wierda Glen suburbs.
In total this includes 1 523 customers, with 1 105 of those being residential lines, 255 business and 163 corporate.
Telkom says it has started trying to restore services by deploying "several teams to expedite the repair process".
Theo Hess, Telkom managing executive for network field services, says services will be progressively restored until close of business next week Friday. "We apologise for the inconvenience caused by this outage and assure customers that we are doing all we can to curb any further cable theft in the area."
Telkom has reported the incident to the South African Police and Telkom's internal security, and the police have launched an investigation. Affected customers qualify for pro-rata rebates on their line rentals.
"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 the Telkom 24 hour crime/fraud hotline number 0860 124 000," says Hess.
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