Telkom's copper nightmare

Am I the only one who thinks that its preposterous that they generate R626m revenue per year on R159m's cable? 393% profit?
 
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I was told about 2 years ago, by a Telkom techy, that most of the cables (specifically underground) are stolen by the same contractors that put the cables in the ground. So in the end it all comes full circle I guess.
 
I've got a sneaky suspicion that its not the tsotsi's stealing the copper but rather 4mbps users who want fibre. (just kidding)

Telkom should seriously take a hint though and put fibre everywhere.
 
This issue has been going on for so many years, you'd think Telkom might have gotten hit with a clue bat by now.
Alas, as with all things Telkom, it takes about 10x longer than with anyone else.
Start laying fibre instead of copper you eejits!
 
"Telkom has internal staff proactively attending to copper theft ..... to curb the selling of stolen Telkom copper cables," the minister told Smuts."

Ol' Ivy almost sounds like a Telkom representitive.....;)
 
fragtion_ said:
If they are simply not going to replace the copper cables and leave people like me without ADSL, why don't they instead invest in FTTx, such as Verizon's FiOS at a competetive price, and then bang goes the competition. Well, that's if they had any brains and a little bit of intuition. If Telkom don't sort out the problem with cable theft and come up with a proper solution soon, they're going to quite simply go down the drains.
Click to expand...

Look at the prices for 50/20 Mb/s for $140/month
http://www22.verizon.com/content/consumerfios/packages+and+prices/packages+and+prices.htm
weep weep
 
fragtion_ said:
If they are simply not going to replace the copper cables and leave people like me without ADSL, why don't they instead invest in FTTx, such as Verizon's FiOS at a competetive price, and then bang goes the competition. Well, that's if they had any brains and a little bit of intuition. If Telkom don't sort out the problem with cable theft and come up with a proper solution soon, they're going to quite simply go down the drains.
Click to expand...


*laughing.... many a true word spoken in irritation there! They ARE down the drains wherever you go here in the Zone. In hmm, 2004 eThekwini Muni's Electricity Dept.'s Allen Spence (now grandly titled Superintendent for Electricity for Durban) installed some new technology on our streetlights claiming it was a "Highly-technical computerised Anti-theft device" He also claimed there were only two in Durban like it...the other having been installed down in Cato Crest.... This mind you was at the same time Telkom slapped two of their white wireless boxes on the poles as well...;)
And another poster suggesting it is the Muni's own contractors stealing the cable couldn't be nearer the mark in a great many cases.... eish what rubbish they talk......
We had NEVER had our cable stolen. Why on earth would they put prototypes up in our street? You have to wonder hey ;)
 
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Kasyx said:
"What? All our copper cable keeps getting stolen and it is costing us billions? Well let's keep replacing it! ... What's that? 'Faaaii-baarrr'? No, I don't know what that is, so let's just keep using copper."
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Well, fibre is more of a problem (read much more expensive) to replace, and is not a deterrent to theft (aka, the people too stupid to notice are the thieves).

/me has no copper to his house, because of theft cable theft in the area
 
ranger said:
Well, fibre is more of a problem (read much more expensive) to replace, and is not a deterrent to theft (aka, the people too stupid to notice are the thieves).

/me has no copper to his house, because of theft cable theft in the area
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HOW can thieves steal the phone line?
Is it not underground?
 
My worst and only experience of copper stealing %$@#&&@$#$%!ers..
Was at a friend's house, playing some online games.. We were playing World of Warcraft, like 2 days straight, and i was supposed to stay there for the week cos my parents were on holiday.. haha, all of a sudden the internet dies, 2 in the morning...
All the phone lines are dead, we like WTH?? next morning walk to the shops and see that all the phone lines on the side of the road are missing :P they only buried the cables there last year, the year before or something stoopid...
 
I don't know what the govt can do to curb copper theft, but what I'll do is :

1. Accelerate local loop unbundling so that everybody's got their share of the telephone network to maintain.
2. Bring in new laws declaring that the valid possession of loose copper be proven with an invoice or the such (for shops and the such selling copper wires, copper taps etc). Scrap yards should only accept copper when the person can prove that it's not stolen by producing proof of origin (demolished building etc - and also leaving proof of residence, ID and fingerprints). [Sure it may sound draconian, but hard measures are called for as people's lives are at stake].
3. Patrol scrapyards regularly to make sure no shady deals are going on.
4. Post bounties for the information on copper theft.
5. Telco's can use wireless infrastructure where permitting - as long as the signal does not get degraded then a wireless infrastructure should and can be used instead of a copper infrastructure.

Replacing copper with fiber won't always work as the thieves will take a chance, and rip it out, causing a lot of damage (in the vain hope that it will be replaced with copper).
 
See, now if teklom were quick to respond to client calls (i.e. awesome client service), you would have called them within 5 minutes of the line going down on a cell phone, and they would have checked, found zero responses form any of the lines on that circuit, and immediately responded.

But, you did not bother to phone cos you know that it's a waste of time.
 
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