Telecom cable theft leaves around 500 people offline
For the past three month’s copper thieves have targeted the same Windhoek suburb of Pioneerspark for the third time, leaving Telecom Namibia customers without telephone lines and broadband internet.
According to Telecom Namibia’s spokesperson, Oiva Angula, the latest theft affected about 500 individual customers across the surburb.
The thieves plundered thick copper cables from the underground network of Telecom Namibia last week, pulling the plug on hundred home telephone lines and internet connections.
Telecom Namibia technicians found a 600 pair primary cable copper cable again cut and stolen after an investigation when a fault was reported by a customer without services in the suburb last week.
“Technicians have started working throughout the day on Friday to try to restore connections. The theft incident took place along David Hosea Meroro Street last night. We hope to have everyone back in service by next week Tuesday afternoon, 22 August,” Angula said.
Telecom Namibia copper cables were stolen for the first time in the area on 20 May this year when thieves dug up a manhole and got hold of a 600 pair copper cable and the services were progressively restored on 26 May.
The second cable theft incident happened on the evening of 1 June when a Telecom Namibia copper cable was damaged when thieves attempted to cut and steal a 1600 pair cable in a manhole with a sharp object. This incident happened along Bernt Carlson street, between Hendrik Witbooi Drive and Erasmus Street in Pioneerspark Extension 1, affecting customers along the following streets: Erasmus, Duncan, Dixon, Palmer, Kreft, Ebner, Davin, Carew, Fabri, Du Toit, Pfohl, Rath, Schepman, Heyn, Stoss, Range, Kindt, Gramovski, Pabst and Geiger.
Angula said that the cables were spliced by Telecom’s technicians and services restored the afternoon of 5 June.
“We appeal to customers in this area to be on high alert and to report any suspicious activity to the Police. Telecom Namibia offers a reward for any report that leads to a successful prosecution of any case of vandalism or theft of its network infrastructure. Meanwhile, we apologise to all the affected customers in the Pioneerspark area for the inconvenience caused and ask for their patience and understanding,” Angula concluded.
