Frankfort town left with no Vodacom coverage due to unpaid electricity bills

Frankfort town in the Free State had no Vodacom cellular connectivity for a couple of days after the operator’s tower in the area was turned off.

Someone who is a resident in the nearest town called Reitz told MyBroadband that agriculture company VKB (Vrystaatse Koöperasie Beperk) switched the tower off on Monday 30 November because Vodacom had failed to pay for its electricity usage for over two years, and he also mentioned that the community of Frankfort was furious about the situation.

“The tower was on one of VKB grain silos and they warned Vodacom about it,” the resident said.

The mobile communications company, Vodacom confirmed that the tower was switched off due to a dispute with the landlord, although it did not elaborate on the nature of the issue. The matter had since been resolved and the site was back online, with connectivity restored in the area as of the morning of Wednesday 2 December. “We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused,” Vodacom said.

VKB said the dispute had been resolved in an amicable manner. “We don’t deem it necessary to further labour the incident in the public domain,” the company said.

Mai Image: WeeTracker