Telkom hit by cable theft

Telkom says over 1500 corporate and residential customers have been affected by yet another incident of cable theft.

The company says over 1500 corporate and residential customers have been affected by yet another incident of cable theft.

Telkom says services in the Mountainview and Suiderberg areas in Pretoria have been disrupted following multiple cable theft in the Daspoort exchange area.

The company says over 1500 corporate and residential customers have been affected by yet another incident of cable theft.

“During the early hours of Friday morning, 9 November 2012, cable thieves cut and removed three major copper cables servicing the area,” Telkom said in a statement.

The company says the cable thieves gained access through two lockable manhole lids to remove 100 meters of a 1200 pair cable and 800 pair cable. The thieves also cut a 1400 pair cable but were only able to make off with 15 metres of the cable.

Telkom says customers with the exchange code 377 and 379 in the Mountainview and Suiderberg areas are affected.

“We apologise for the inconvenience brought on our customers by this crime and assure the community that the crime has been reported and a police investigation is currently underway,” said Theo Hess, Telkom managing executive for Network Field Services.

“Telkom has deployed several teams over the weekend to restore affected services as soon as possible,” he added.

The services will be progressively restored until close of business on Friday, 16 November 2012.said Hess.

The company says affected customers do qualify for pro-rata rebates on their line rentals. Currently customers are advised to call the company’s Billing Enquiries Service on 10210 to enquire about such rebates for the period during which their lines were non-functional. Ordinarily, once an account of a service is linked to a bulk-fault, the credit is automatically passed to the customer.