“These crimes tend to spike during load-shedding, when the lack of power sees substations being vandalised for copper wire, which then further exacerbates the power supply problem, when electricity is meant to be restored. MTN has had to deploy security teams around the country to protect the equipment at these sites, once again, at significant cost to the company,” MTN said.
“The uncertainty surrounding the envisaged stages of load-shedding and duration thereof puts additional strain on the network because if the duration and/or frequency of the load-shedding increases, the current battery backup autonomy per site is compromised. The end result is increased operational costs for operators.”
Vodacom expressed similar concerns, but stressed that the problem was affecting all network operators.
“We have deployed additional resources, batteries and generators at numerous sites across the country,” Vodacom said.
“We would like to appeal to customers to take note of Eskom’s load-shedding schedule to try and plan around areas affected by scheduled outages,” the company said.