Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications says between January and June this year it recorded acts of vandalism that highly disrupted activity and affected the quality of service it provides customers. Overall, GCT reported a total of 2,000 cuts of optical fiber and 600 thefts of equipment, including 240 batteries.

This made the company spend around $5.7 million (over GH¢30 million) in repairs; an amount not initially planned. To avoid such scenario in H2, GCT committed on July 15 to launch awareness raising campaigns about the importance of telecom facilities across the country but mainly in regions where incidents of theft are most recorded.

According to Derek Laryea, Head of the Chamber’s department of research and communications, the campaign aims to get public work companies, road management agencies, service providers, local government, regulators and consumers, involved in the protection of telecom facilities.