MTN South Africa has been desperately seeking generators by crowd-sourcing additional generator capacity from local small businesses to keep its customers connected amid the country’s deepening power crisis.
In July, the company announced that “MTN is inviting all businesses that are in possession of generators to become potential suppliers to MTN. Whether the business has two or 20 generators, MTN is looking to partner,”
MTN South Africa says it is working “around the clock” to ensure its customers stay connected with an aggressive rollout of batteries, generators and alternate power supplies across its operations.
MTN said in a statement on Tuesday that “so far, two businesses, namely, 24Solutions and SAMO Engineering, have stepped up and are now working with MTN as supply partners to provide additional generator capacity to help bolster MTN’s network resilience”
“It is an absolute priority to ensure digital access is maintained despite the ongoing power crisis. We want to ensure customers stay connected, no matter the situation. and we’re thinking out of the box to find alternative solutions,” said MTN SA CEO Charles Molapisi.
“Collective effort and relentless optimism are needed right now, and I am extremely pleased to see progress on our crowd-sourcing approach to the power crisis we’re all facing. We plan to scale this up even further in future,” he added.
According to Molapisi, he said, “We made the call to partner with companies with generators, whether they had two or 40, and are pleased to have found 24Solutions, SAMO Engineering to join us.”
Read also: South African authorities reprimand MTN for deceptive advertising
MTN Needs More To Tackle Crisis
Despite MTN’s desperate search for the generator in a move tagged “an aggressive and successful battery rollout” to maintain network stability, the extent and duration of the ongoing power cuts have also placed battery backup under strain.
MTN has upgraded its battery backup solutions on over 80% of the sites already this year and is currently deploying more additional batteries. However, MTN is still faced with the challenge of the current outage schedule not allowing enough time for batteries to charge.
MTN said that back-up systems generally take 12-18 hours to recharge, while batteries have a capacity of about 6-12 hours. So MTN decided to embark on the crowd-sourcing initiative to find additional alternative energy sources.
“Consistent theft and vandalism of the batteries place another drag on the system, so additional generation capacity also provides a short-term solution to limit the downtime when batteries are being replaced or repaired,” MTN explained.
Michele Gamberini, the Chief Technology and Information Officer at MTN SA say increased load shedding is a challenge for battery recharging.
“Despite us having placed thousands of batteries at our sites across the country, the efficacy of those batteries greatly reduces once we pass stage 4 load shedding.”
In addition to the battery rollout, MTN has also deployed over 2000 generators to counter the impact of stage 4 (and higher) load shedding. MTN is currently using more than 400,000 litres of fuel per month to keep these generators operational.
Gamberini explained, “To mitigate the risks, we have embarked on several emergency initiatives to ensure higher network resilience, despite the obstacles. We want to assure our customers that we are doing all we can to maintain connectivity during this challenging time.”
Molapisi says that as a company born out of South Africa’s democracy, MTN is tackling the load-shedding crisis with a solution-orientated positive mindset.
Businesses looking to partner with MTN in the supply of generators are invited to contact MTN at power@mtn.com
About SAMO Engineering And 24Solutions
SAMO Engineering is an enterprise providing holistic engineering integration and consulting services to the telecommunication, rail and power industries. SAMO Engineering was founded in 2013 and has since grown to be a sustainable engineering enterprise with a presence in sub-Saharan Africa. The culture of pulling one up by their bootstraps is fostered and developed at SAMO Engineering with an emphasis on encouraging innovation and free thinking.
Samo Engineering is a black women-owned business based in Midrand that specialises in ICT and electrical engineering services, providing clients with installations of ICT infrastructure and fibre cables.
24Solutions is a leading energy, service and maintenance company operating in the telecommunications sector with a unique approach, differentiating capabilities and core focus on ensuring value delivery to their clients, which has enabled the organization to grow rapidly over the past years.
24Solutions offers a large variety of turnkey services in the telecommunication & power generation sectors across the board. They have built a reputable name in the industry known for their professional repairs, reporting, well-equipped facilities, and certified and experienced personnel.
24Solutions services include generator deployments, generator repairs, fuel cell repairs, fuel cell refuels, passive preventative maintenance, vandalism repairs and electrical repairs and maintenance, and fibre rollouts.