Vodafone cable thieves arrested

The Ghana Police has arrested two youths who were caught in the act of stealing Vodafone Ghana cables in the Mile 7 area on Tuesday morning.

Police were alerted around 8am in the morning when five youths parked a private truck in the Mile 7 area of Achimota and started digging up Vodafone network cables.

The issue of cable-theft has been a major problem to Vodafone and other telecommunications companies as it disrupts network service to customers and has huge financial implications in repairing the damage.

If the thieves had been successful in their actions, they would have caused approximately three days of network outage in both voice and data for Vodafone customers in the Mile 7 area, and it would have cost Vodafone GH¢52,000 in labour and material costs to repair the damage.

Leveraging on their exceptional relationship with Ghana Police, the Corporate Risk and Integrity team at Vodafone has once again taken leadership in the combat of cable-theft by providing a shortcode for anyone who has suspicions of cable-theft activity.

Michael Mbroh, the Head of Corporate Security, explained further: “The theft of our copper cables is a serious problem that not only affects our business but, more importantly, our customers who will ultimately experience a network outage.

We need the vigilance of members of the community to protect the network which allows them to do so much. If anyone sees anything suspicious, they can call our special shortcode 155 which is manned by our personnel 24 hours a day. We work closely with the local police, who will act swiftly.”

He further reiterated signs people should look out for if they see a group of people digging up cables. “Legitimate Vodafone staff will be in Vodafone-branded overalls, and their vehicle will also be branded and they will carry ID. In the case of this incident, the culprits were in a non-branded pickup truck and wore yellow reflective jackets, which should raise alarm bells to anyone passing by.”

Communications cables are usually dug up because of their copper content which has a high market value. Vodafone, in an effort to provide a faster service to its customers, has replaced many of these cables with fibre -- which although are not worth anything on the market are cut indiscriminately by thieves looking for copper content. When these fibres are cut, customers in the surrounding areas experience a network outage while Vodafone tries to restore service.

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