It’s been a long journey for South Africa since the initial chronic power shortages in 2007. The concern in the country grew in 2014 when Eskom announced their plans for load-shedding stages. Since then, the crisis has rapidly worsened and resulted in both seen and unforeseen repercussions. In a statement on Monday evening, DA leader John Steenhuisen, said the implementation of stage 6 power cuts was “devastating news for our already struggling economy and fatal to both economic growth and job creation”. The recent announcement and implementation of stage 6 load-shedding has left already concerned South African’s scrambling for answers. With staggering economic losses, local companies are investing in generators, UPS systems and other technologies to keep the doors open.
What this means Telecoms companies
Many South African cellular and broadband providers warn that continued load shedding will affect subscribers and inevitably lead to downtime. Customer feedback and reports have been illustrating the devastating effects on telecoms due to the frequency and increase in power cuts. Cellular giants such has Vodacom are taking a pro-active approach and deploying generators at numerous sites across the country. But these backup methods are not entirely reliable as Mthokozisi Ndlovu, a public relations specialist with MTN, explains. “Operational impact is felt where the frequency of the load shedding exceeds the capacity of the back-up devices.” Ndlovu further elaborates “Our batteries generally have a capacity of six to 12 hours dependent on the site category and require 12-18 hours to recharge dependent on the battery technology type.” Telkom has also warned subscribers that the weather may cause an additional impact on its network and cause temporary service interruptions. Stating that “Due to adverse weather our technicians may not be able to reach all affected areas.” With the increasing duration and frequency of the load-shedding stages, the batteries simply do not have enough time to recharge. This results in re-directed calls and frequent drops in signal and connectivity. And with the increased demand and faults, support and technicians simply do not have the time to resolve these issues fast enough. This could have devastating effects on any business relying on these services for communication.
How TRUENAV can help
With years of experience in the South African market, TRUENAV can help. Our team is able to set up a telecoms system that is both tailor-made for your business and built to run through the stages of load-shedding. Our Hosted Voice Solution infrastructure is built with the necessary fail-over and redundant power sources and will keep you connected and your business operational. In addition, we have vast experience in UPS systems and will build your telecoms infrastructure with the necessary power back-up alternative to keep you connected as seamlessly as possible. TRUENAV also offers world-class technical support through our Service Level Agreements (SLA), and employs a team of skilled and certified technical resources to provide technical support. We also hold sufficient backup stock to ensure that we can respond to technical faults within our contractual SLAs. We’re here to assist and keep you connected! Want to know more? Contact us for more information on how we can help your business.
