Mobile operators count the cost
While the past week’s violence has been focused on retailers, mobile operators have reported that their stores and network towers have not been spared, with service for customers in some parts of SA affected. SA’s second-largest mobile operator, MTN, said it has had to close more than 100 stores mostly in Gauteng and more than 1,000 MTN employees were unable to get to work.
While last week’s unrest and violence was focused on retailers and supermarket chains, mobile operators reported that their stores and network towers have not been spared, with service for customers in some parts of SA affected.
SA’s second-largest mobile operator, MTN, said it has had to close more than 100 stores mostly in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. “Over 100 base stations are currently down, and our technicians can’t safely reach the sites for repairs, due to the unrest,” said Godfrey Motsa, head of MTN SA.
More than 1,000 MTN employees were unable to “get to work and millions of calls and queries from our customers cannot be attended to, as our primary call centre remains inaccessible”, he said.
Similar reports have come from other industry players, with Cell C saying 14 of its stores were affected “by the protest action through vandalism”.
In addition, “one Cell C network tower has been vandalised in the Reservoir Hills Centre”, chief technology officer Schalk Visser said.
Vandalism is nothing new for the industry, though the issue has mainly been about network sites being attacked. Mobile network operators have spent millions of rand replacing stolen batteries and tightening security after a spate of vandalism at cellphone tower sites.
Vodacom spokesperson Byron Kennedy says it is still “assessing the extent of the damage caused to retail outlets” but he did confirm a number of the operator’s stores in KwaZulu-Natal and “many others in parts” of Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, the Eastern Cape, Free State and the Western Cape were closed “on a temporary basis”.
While Telkom did not disclose the number of its stores affected by the violence, it did highlight that damage to warehouses, including the BCX warehouse, is likely to negatively affect delivery times of hardware. BCX is the IT services unit for Telkom.
For data-only network Rain, the story is slightly different. Unlike other network operators, Rain does not have retail outlets
it uses an online distribution system for SIM cards and devices. “Our biggest challenge is getting our SIMs into the hands of customers in affected areas, as our deliveries via courier partners are severely impacted,” said the company, which is partly owned by Patrice Motsepe’s African Rainbow Capital Investments.
Like other mobile providers, Rain has sites in the affected areas that have been vandalised and are “down”.
Fibre network operators which provide much of the connectivity to businesses and homes in the large cities have not reported damage or vandalised infrastructure.