The latest network outage suffered by Telecom Namibia highlights the rampancy of cable theft and vandalism of infrastructure in the Southern African country.
Thousands of clients were left without coverage on Monday after the disruption that impacted both fixed and mobile data networks countrywide.
The operator confirmed the areas of Oshakati and Tsumeb in the Far North and the North-Eastern regions were affected, but according to clients, the outage was experienced across the nation for most of Monday.
Other customers, including in the capital Windhoek, reported they had been offline since Sunday.
The outage was attributed to a fault on Telecom Namibia's backbone fibre network, leaving customers experiencing congestion and services disrupted as the company's engineers worked to resolve the issue.
Dr Stanley Shanapinda, CEO, Telecom Namibia, announced late Monday that the outage had been resolved.
"The root cause is copper theft. The culprit has been apprehended," he stated.
Shanapinda urged members of the public to report theft and vandalism to police to eradicate such crises.
In 2024, Telecom Namibia announced a collaboration with the City of Windhoek and City Police, aimed at the protection of telecommunications infrastructure in the capital city, as well as enhancing safety and security.
This collaboration entailed the deployment of CCTV cameras in crime hotspots where copper and battery theft, as well as vandalism of other telecommunications infrastructure, is rampant.
At the beginning of July this year, Telecom Namibia suffered a similar setback after vandals violated its infrastructure in the Northern Business area of Windhoek.
The operator is upgrading its network from copper to fibre cables.
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