MTN pumps R2.5 billion into South African network to fight load-shedding

Nearly a quarter of the money MTN South Africa invested to improve its network in 2023 was spent combating load-shedding.

This is according to MTN Group CEO Ralph Mupita, who told journalists on Monday morning that they spent R2.5 billion in South Africa on network resilience.

MTN released its annual results for the financial year ended 31 December 2023.

It reported spending R10.5 billion on capex in South Africa. Its network resilience upgrades formed part of this budget.

Capital expenditure was around 19.5% of South African revenue, a very high capital intensity figure.

Mupita said that where MTN had completed its upgrades, its network availability was 98%.

Overall, the company reported that MTN SA’s network availability had improved significantly and ahead of schedule — to around 95%.

MTN said its improved network availability translated to happier customers and that it noted a substantial increase in its Net Promoter Score.

South Africa’s mobile network infrastructure has been targeted by criminal syndicates seeking high-capacity batteries that can fetch high prices on the black market.

Last year, MTN South Africa took the media to visit cellphone towers that criminals had vandalised for their batteries and copper cabling.

At the time, South Africa’s second-biggest mobile operator told journalists that the issue was no longer just a challenge but had developed into a crisis.

The company said that it experienced thousands of incidents of theft and vandalism at its base stations in the space of a year.

Some towers were being hit up to 15 times per year.

This forces it to spend money on replacing damaged and stolen infrastructure instead of building new towers and improving existing infrastructure.

The gears of justice also grind slowly when culprits are arrested.

Towards the end of last year, the Madadeni Regional Court convicted and sentenced a 45-year-old man for stealing batteries from a cellular tower in June 2017.

The reason for the six-year delay between his arrest and conviction was that he chose to go to trial.

He was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, suspended to five years on condition that he is not found guilty of theft during the period of suspension.