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Shanapinda appeals to decent Namibians’ patriotism to help stop criminals

Shanapinda appeals to decent Namibians’ patriotism to help stop criminals

Telecom infrastructure bore the brunt of crime against the national telecommunications utility as thieves targeted copper wire, solar panels and batteries.

During the recent holidays, the crime escalated so much that the Telecom Chief Executive, Dr Stanley Shanapinda issued a stern warning this week, saying the theft and vandalism result in enormous losses for the company, at the same time causing downtime and inconvenience for clients.

Dr Shanapinda said that theft hits customers hard as network damage results in service interruption which impacts emergency services as well as businesses dependent on the affected networks.

The Telecom boss urged all members of the public to be vigilant as the ramifications of theft and/or vandalism are felt by everybody. “We urge communities to be vigilant and report any suspicious activities around Telecom infrastructure to the nearest police station,” he said.

Making matters worse is the fact that criminals often also break fences, gates and locks to gain access to Telecom’s installations. “Telecom has reported a high number of incidents of criminals targeting its infrastructure. This clearly shows that criminals are causing serious damage to the Telecom networks through copper theft and sheer vandalism, resulting in downtime for customers and costing the company millions. This directly affects our quality of service and customer experience,” said Shanapinda.

Pointing out the almost impossible task of safeguarding hundreds of kilometres of cable, both terrestrial and aerial, he called on all Namibians’ sense of patriotism to help act as watchdogs to report any criminal activity. In particular, he issued a stern warning to scrap dealers and transport companies who knowingly buy and cart property stolen from Telecom.


 

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