It is estimated that the theft of copper is costing the South African economy an estimated R5 billion per year, as the impact is felt in the telecommunications, electricity supply and the rail services industries, among others.
The indirect repercussions of copper cable theft are on a large scale and of greater cost to the South African economy per annum.
These indirect effects include poor service delivery, negative investor perception of SA, power outages that could result in poor productivity, deterioration in exports and the shutting down of business operations.
To combat this growing crime, the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SACCI) yesterday unveiled a Copper Theft Barometer to reflect the experiences of Transnet, Telkom and Eskom on a current and projected basis.
The barometer is designed to measure and monitor the extent of copper cable theft in the country on a monthly basis, with the objective of raising awareness of the problem and to engage public participation in combating this crime.
Detailed reports of the barometer's findings will be revealed for the six months preceding its release. However, the analysis of trends in copper theft will also be presented on a year-on-year basis.
Theft in 2010
The institution has revealed the following cost impact findings of copper theft over the past two years.
The average loss per month between April 2009 and October 2010 was R22.3 million, with the losses recently peaking in November 2009 at R46.42 million and in March 2010 at R47.2 million.
In April 2009, the monetary value of the losses incurred stood at R10.72 million. This number increased to R22.31 million in April 2010, representing an increase of 108% year-on-year, explains SACCI.
However, November 2010 saw substantial improvement on a year-on-year basis, compared with the barometer level of November 2009. There was a 60% reduction in replacement costs, from R46 million in November 2009 to R18 million in November 2010.
In recent months, replacement cost levels remained volatile, but at substantially lower levels than experienced earlier in 2010. The November level of R18 million is less than a third of the March 2010 peak, notes SACCI.
Telkom losses
According to Telkom's annual report, the fixed-line operator has seen a 7% decrease in cable theft, breakage and incidents over the past year. However, the costs of cable theft have hammered the operator year-on-year.
In its 2009 annual report, it dedicates an entire chapter to the theft of copper, saying this cost for Telkom outbound revenue losses was estimated at R907 million.
In 2008, it lost R863 million, rising with the dramatic increase in the international price of the metal. In the same year, Telkom almost gave up on copper, and decided that, in places where theft was rampant, it would not install any new copper lines.
Instead, it turned to fibre and wireless technologies, but fibre theft has also been a problem, costing it R100 million in damages in 2008.
Telkom lost more than R300 million to cable theft between April 2006 and March 2007, with hired security costing R130 million of that amount. In the 2007 financial year, it was hammered by a R571 million loss through cable theft.
Related story:
Telkom probes cable fraud allegations
Share