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Over the past six months, Vodacom spent R 1 billion on batteries to ensure that its network remained active during load shedding.
Speaking on The Money ShowVodacom CEO Shameel Joosub said this year’s power outages forced them to increase their investment in backup power.
South Africa experienced the worst load drop in history in 2020, with the total gigawatt-hour drop topping the 2019 record in August.
In September, the cumulative cargo drop for 2020 was already 23% worse than for all of 2019.
What is particularly concerning is that this record load outage occurred despite the prolonged lockdown, which significantly reduced the demand for electricity.
This wreaked havoc on telecommunications operators, whose networks were not built to withstand hours of continuous power outages.
To create a robust mobile network, Vodacom directed 20% of its capital investment of R5 billion during the last six months towards backup power.
However, buying and installing new batteries on mobile sites is only part of the challenge in South Africa.
Criminals are destroying mobile networks to seize these batteries, which are then sold on the black market.
Joosub said they are losing around R150 million per year due to battery theft, which is an ongoing battle.
Vodacom has gone “old school” to protect its batteries, which includes putting epoxy and cut glass around the batteries, causing grinders to break.
They are also implementing more advanced methods, such as geolocation tools, to lock down batteries when they leave a site.
“It all takes time because we have 14,000 sites that we have to protect against criminals,” Joosub said.
Interview with Shameel Joosub, CEO of Vodacom
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