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The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) has received dozens of  reports of vandalism of communications infrastructure across the country, noting that as the riots rage on, 113 towers have been damaged, and many community radio stations have been looted.

“Such wanton destruction of the broadcasting infrastructure and facilities represents a direct attack on the constitutional right of individuals and communities to access news and information that is accurate, unbiased and up-to-date about the current crisis,” ICASA said in a statement.

US-based American Tower Corporation (ATC) and SBA Communications’ (SBA) structures are potential targets for arsonists and ICASA Chairman Keabetswe Modimoeng warned that “Any disruption of communication services could prove disastrous and result in increased mortality as emergency calls may be directly impacted.”

He said he expects the number of towers that have been vandalized to increase as the country tries to stop the growing number of looters and arsonists.

“We call on the communities to assist in guarding and protecting this critical infrastructure and to exercise the highest levels of patriotism in this regard,” said Modimoeng.

South Africa has approximately 26,000 towers, with ATC owning about 2,300 towers, according to its website.

SBA has approximately 1,200 sites, the majority of which were acquired in October 2019, with the purchase of 900 sites from Atlas Tower South Africa that had a substantial backlog of new builds.

“It is catastrophic sprees of unrest such as the one ongoing that developing countries struggle to ever recover from, with damaged infrastructure simply left as is without funds or manpower available for repairs,” ICASA said.

The country’s three major towercos are Vodacom, Gyro Group and MTN Group.

MTN is seeking to sell its towers and the company has received requests from 20 towercos and investment firms to provide a leaseback offer. MTN said it is looking to conclude the sale during the third quarter of 2021.

It is not known if the current unrest in the country will lower the estimated $500 to $700 million for the company’s towers, understood to total about 6,000.

The post American Tower and SBA Communications exposed to sabotage during South Africa riots appeared first on EMFSA.

13 July 2021

Pretoria – The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA/the Authority) unreservedly condemns the ongoing acts of violence, looting and arson currently taking place in the country, which have resulted in the disruption of communication services, closure of some community radio stations and vandalism of network facilities.

The affected community radio stations, whose equipment has been reported damaged or looted, include Alex FM, Ntokozo FM, Mams FM and Westside FM, to name but a few.

The Authority has further received reports of vandalism of communications infrastructure, including 113 network towers in some parts of the country. Such wanton destruction of the broadcasting infrastructure and facilities represents a direct attack on the constitutional right of individuals and communities to access news and information that is accurate, unbiased and up-to-date about the current crisis. The Authority accordingly condemns such criminal behaviour in the strongest of terms.

“We call on the communities to assist in guarding and protecting this critical infrastructure, and to exercise the highest levels of patriotism in this regard. Any disruption of communication services could prove disastrous and result in increased mortality as emergency calls may be directly impacted,” says ICASA Chairperson, Dr Keabetswe Modimoeng.

Dr Modimoeng further states that ICASA has written to the National Joints Operations and Intelligence Services (NatJoints) to prioritise the safeguarding and protection of this critical telecommunications infrastructure.

In the Cape Town Regional Court last year, a man charged with theft and vandalism of the telecommunications infrastructure was found guilty of 25 counts of theft and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for each of the 25 counts, collectively amounting to 500 years of direct imprisonment. “The judgement is a clear indication that the impact of battery theft and site vandalism is of a treasonous nature,” says Dr Modimoeng.

The Authority, through its Regional Offices in all nine (9) Provinces, will continue to closely monitor the situation during this volatile period.

The post ICASA URGES COMMUNITIES TO SAFEGUARD THE COMMUNICATION INFRASTRUCTURE AGAINST VANDALISM appeared first on EMFSA.