Vodafone cracks down on cable theft

Five people have been jailed for stealing underground telecommunications cables belonging to Vodafone Ghana.

The five were among 25 people arrested in the previous financial year for engaging in cable theft.

Vodafone’s Corporate Communications Manager, Ebenezer Amankwah, interacting with journalists as part of activities marking Vodafone’s cable theft awareness month, said cable theft was affecting the company’s operations.

“This affects everyone who relies on internet and other telecom services to work or provide services,” he said.

Mr. Amankwah said the company recorded 183 cases related to cable theft and spent as much as GHC1.5 million to replace stolen copper annually.

He said Vodafone had instituted certain measures to curb the nefarious activities and make them less lucrative for miscreants.

He said the Judicial Service has established a cable court to prosecute cases related to cable theft and utility services.

“With the support of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, we can also intercept scrap export suspected to be having copper and now we and the police also organize nationwide inspection of scrap,” he added.
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He further indicated that although the company had employed various tactics in solving the problem, it was important for the public to know the challenge and how it affects them indirectly.

“Vodafone’s field engineers, who are always in Vodafone-branded overalls, do not carry out maintenance after 18:00 hours and on Sundays and any persons doing so are likely to be cable thieves,” he stated.

Eric Kwame Tettey, Head of Corporate Security, noted that Vodafone had instituted a reward package for people who would report suspected cable thieves to the police.

“If an arrest is made you have GHC400 and if a conviction is made and the person is sentenced you get GHC600,” he said.

He further indicated that whistleblowers would be protected, adding that constantly protecting cables increases the cost of operations, some of which would be passed onto consumers.