A total of Gh¢10m worth of power backup battery thefts have been recorded by MTN, the leading telecommunications company in Ghana this year at its Antenna located sites throughout the country.
The modus operandi of the criminals is that they liaise with security personnel on duty or forge Identity Cards of the company to enable them have easy access to commit the act.
This was made known by Cynthia Lumor, Corporate Affairs Manageress of MTN Ghana during an editors’ forum held in Koforidua as part of its annual editors’ forum across the country.
According to her, battery and diesel thefts coupled with fiber cuts have been a bane to the smooth operations of the company as it affects quality of service to subscribers while draining the finances of the company.
She stated that the company has recorded a total of 477 fiber cuts from January to August this year which has cost the company millions of cedis to replace.
She said a few persons arrested have made and culprits prosecuted. She appealed to the public to assist the company to apprehend the perpetrators to help provide uninterrupted quality service to its subscribers.
She stressed that a huge amount was budgeted for investment to upgrade and expand infrastructure to help provide quality service for subscribers this year; however, additional budget has been requested to help complete the target.
She revealed that MTN has 45.63% of the market leadership, as well as 54.21% of data leadership among telecommunication companies in the country ,therefore ,the company sees it necessary to add 120 ne\V 3G sites to the 175 sites it developed in 2013, in order to meet customer demands.
He reveled that a 400 KM extensive national fibre and microwave network has been installed in the country to help increase access to network capacity and also increase subscriber base ofMTN.
Speaking on the contribution of MTN Ghana to national development, she explained that a total amount of Gh¢433,21,640.90 was paid as tax to government last year.
She added that MTN Ghana has provided employment for hundreds of persons while through MTN Foundation 95 projects have been executed across the country at a cost of Gh¢15.5m.
Source: The Daily Heritage
