Load-shedding contributing to spike in battery theft, costing telecom firms millions
Telecom companies Vodacom and MTN say they are losing millions of rand in capital expenditure as a result of a spike in battery theft from their cellphone towers, with load-shedding making them easy targets for criminals.
The batteries cost about R28,000 each and can last up to eight years.
They are used to power cellphone masts. If they are stolen, there is no backup power and they cost millions to replace.
MTN said it had spent R300m on batteries for existing sites in 2018 and had 1,800 generators in use. That amount excluded the cost of batteries for new cellphone sites. Public relations senior manager Leigh-Ann Chetty said the majority of MTN’s sites had been equipped with battery backup systems to ensure there is enough power on-site to run the systems for several hours when local power goes down.
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