Telecommunications giants MTN and Vodacom have both made strides in the war against persistent battery theft at base stations, with several arrests and battery recoveries being effected.

Last year, the duo raised the alarm over the accelerating battery theft and vandalism at cellphone towers across the country, which had reached crisis point towards the end of 2019, with losses amounting to hundreds of millions of rands and the permanent shutdown of dozens of sites.

The costs of replacing batteries and fixing damaged infrastructure had run into the millions of rands, with extensive disruptions to network provision impacting on telecommunications quality.

MTN warned at the time that the cost to the industry had reached an unsustainable tipping point, where the damage to towers and infrastructure far exceeded the cost of repairing and replacing batteries and equipment.

However, progress had been made over the past few months as MTN and Vodacom ramped up preventive measures and deployed high-technology-based security initiatives.

“We are encouraged by the breakthroughs we are making in the fight against vandalism and the theft of telecommunications infrastructure; all the hard work is finally yielding results,” says MTN South Africa GM for network operations Ernest Paul.

He explains that seven people were arrested, a total of 55 batteries were recovered and four vehicles with tools were confiscated in a series of operations across the country during the last week of February.

Further, the South African Police Services (SAPS) arrested a suspect at the Beitbridge point of entry in possession of 32 batteries, while three suspects were apprehended during a successful operation in Greytown, in KwaZulu-Natal, following a tip-off.

“In another successful multiparty operation, MTN’s security [team] and the SAPS nabbed three suspects after a tip-off from another telco operator. A total of 16 MTN batteries were subsequently recovered.

“MTN will continue to collaborate with other telcos to completely clamp down on the scourge of battery theft, which is costing mobile network operators millions of rands and depriving consumers of access to communication services,” Paul says.

Vodacom, meanwhile, deployed high-tech security measures to fight battery theft at its base stations, with the mobile provider’s National Security team, in partnership with the SAPS, arresting suspects belonging to one of the largest syndicates behind battery theft in South Africa.

“An intelligence-driven operation initiated by Vodacom National Security, with the assistance of the SAPS, the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department and the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department, led to the arrest of five suspects and the recovery of batteries in Soweto,” says Vodacom chief risk officer Johan van Graan.

The suspects were linked to various cases of battery theft and vandalism in the country’s nine provinces. Vodacom batteries stolen in Mpumalanga were also recovered at the scene, in addition to rounds of 9 mm ammunition and housebreaking implements.