Vandalism and battery theft at telecommunications base stations across South Africa have reached crisis point, with losses amounting to hundreds of millions of rands and the permanent shutdown of dozens of sites.

The severity of the damage to cell towers has forced telecommunications giant MTN to permanently close 53 base stations, while its peer, Vodacom, has had to fork out millions of rands more to replace its batteries with expensive, more secure lithium-ion alternatives to limit the mass scale of the theft.

Vodacom’s losses have totalled up to R140-million a year, as vandalism and theft, with batteries and copper the main targets, impact on about 500 towers each month, says Vodacom group chief technology officer Andries Delport.

Between 1 500 and 2 000 batteries are stolen each month.

“Last year, we lost 25 000 batteries,” adds Vodacom innovation head Jannie van Zyl.

Vodacom, which invested some R9.6-billion during 2018 and expects north of R9-billion in investment for 2019, has about 14 000 sites.

The group is spending R250-million to R300-million this year to replace batteries, owing to theft, and to replace lead-acid batteries with shortened life spans owing to load-shedding.

Vodacom is in the process of replacing its lead-acid batteries with more expensive lithium-ion batteries, which handle charges more easily and can last up to ten years.

They also hold less real street value.

The latest-generation lithium-ion batteries also have a supplier code installed, which means it is unusable if disconnected and requires a specific code to restart.

MTN is also experiencing a surge in battery theft and vandalism, with the cost to fix some of the towers being as much as R350-million.

As many as 89 cell towers across the country are currently on hold as they await replacement batteries and maintenance fixes, explains MTN network operations GM Ernest Paul.

“Some sites are damaged so severely that they are at risk of being permanently shut down.”

Already, 53 base stations have been completely destroyed and have had to be terminated – 39 in Tshwane and 15 in Johannesburg.

“In the first half of the year, the cost to the industry has reached an unsustainable tipping point. The damage to towers and infrastructure is far exceeding the cost of repairing and replacing batteries and equipment,” Paul explains.

An added burden is that damage of this nature is not insurable.

“This is a national problem and more communities and people need to realise they may experience no service at some point if this continues,” he says, noting that the loss of services and network quality can involve a 2 km to 5 km radius, and up to 15 km on some sites.

This will impact on 5 000 to 20 000 people at any given time.

“The industry is under pressure to deal with not only improving security to curb theft of batteries and vandalism but also having to pay increasing amounts to replace batteries and repair damage,” Paul adds.

He warns that costs, which have, to date, been absorbed by the operators, may need to be passed on to the consumer if the mounting theft continues.

“While MTN is making strides in combating battery theft by implementing full detection and monitoring on all base transceiver station sites, criminal syndicates are becoming more brazen and a broader initiative by the community is needed to prevent ongoing theft,” Paul says.