Leonardville cut off after telecomms tower collapsed

Many residents and businesses in Leonardville town and district are cut off from the rest of the world following the collapse of the town’s communications tower.

The tower, owned by MTC but shared by Telecom Namibia, collapsed presumably when one of its anchor cables snapped. It knocked out voice and internet services for all in the area. The tower which collapsed late on Saturday afternoon, 30 September, left all TN Mobile and 78 WiMAX customers connected to the Leonardville base station without telephony and internet. The incident occurred while an MTC technical team was working on the tower’s guy ropes.

“The cause of the collapse has not been confirmed yet. Service restoration and time frames will be determined only after engagement with the tower owner, MTC, has been concluded,” Telecom Namibia’s Head of Communications, Oiva Angula said.
Affected customers are requested to contact Telecom Namibia in Gobabis to arrange for interim alternative service solutions like call forwarding of affected telephone numbers to alternative cellphone or phone number as per customer requirement.
While it may take several month to construct a new tower, Telecom said it is exploring alternative technical solutions to get the affected customers reconnected.
“Telecom Namibia wishes to apologise to all our affected customers for the inconvenience caused,” Angula said.

MTC was slightly more upbeat. “All services are currently down. Our network teams are on site to minimize the downtime and to fast-track the restoration of services to the village. Tentatively, we anticipate to have solved the matter by latest Wednesday this week. Coverage to the area will however not be possible until the tower has been rebuilt” stated MTC’s Erasmus Nekundi.