Madina Worst Hit By Cable Theft
Vodafone Ghana has been hit by a major theft of copper cables in the Madina area resulting in the loss of voice and internet services for consumers and businesses.
The estimated cost to the business in repairing the 1kilometre of cable between Adenta ‘Trotro’ Station and SSNIT Flats Junction is GH¢200,000 while the network outage will also take approximately three weeks to repair.
The cable theft has negatively affected many customers in the area.
Since August 2012, over 15,500 Fixed Broadband customers have been left without internet service as a result of 186 cable theft cases recorded in the country.
Vodafone experienced the highest number of cable theft in December when it reported 47 cable theft cases at Korle Bu, Madina, Accra High Street, Cantonments, Kasoa, East Legon and Tema.
This left thousands of customers and businesses including government agencies, banks and schools without voice or internet service for days and sometimes weeks.
Last year, Vodafone Ghana lost GH¢5 million in replacing stolen cables in order to restore service to thousands of affected customers.
Vodafone Ghana is working with a range of stakeholders including the security agencies to initiate a campaign to stamp out cable theft.
Nana Yaa Ofori Atta, Head of External Affairs said: ‘We have intensified our campaign to catch those responsible for cable theft who cause disruption not just to our customers, but to the local community.
It is unacceptable that nearly 25 percent of our fixed broadband faults reported are as a result of the theft of our cables. We are working with the Police at the highest level to make sure that we have the right resources to fight this.
We believe this is a form of organized crime and we will leave no stone unturned to bring the culprits to justice.’
She noted: ‘The most important people in this battle are members of the community. A lot of these incidents occur in broad daylight or at very odd hours in the night and we need anyone who sees anything they feel is suspicious to call the Police on 18555 or call 155 on their Vodafone line to speak to a member of our security department 24/7.
We need members of the public to be vigilant because the impact of the theft is indiscriminate, it could affect your local Police station or Hospital. .
In the last quarter of 2012, four members of the public were rewarded for providing information, which led to the arrest and prosecution of cable thieves in the Tema and Mile 7 areas.
A business desk report
