Vodafone Ghana has been hit by a massive copper cable theft in the Madina resulting in a loss of voice and internet services to consumers, businesses and the wider community throughout the Madina-Adenta area. A statement of the company said about one kilometer (1km) of cable that lay between Adenta trotro station and SSNIT flats junction has been stolen and replacement and repairs would cost at least GHC200,000. It said network outage will also take approximately three weeks to repair, so service to some 450 customers would not be available throughout that period. “Since August 2012, over 15,500 Fixed Broadband customers have been left without internet service as a result of 186 cable theft incidents all over the country,” the statement said, adding that Vodafone experienced the highest number of cable thefts in a single month in December when it reported 47 cable thefts in areas such as Korle Bu, Madina, Accra High Street, Cantonments, Kasoa, East Legon and Tema. It said those thefts left thousands of customers and businesses including government agencies, banks and schools without voice or internet service for days and sometimes weeks. The telco said 25% of fixed broadband faults reported were as a result of cable theft, adding that last year alone Vodafone Ghana lost GHC5m replacing stolen cables in order to restore service to the thousands of customers affected. It noted that the situation is not only affecting Vodafone but its customers too in the form of loss of revenue due to non-availability of voice and internet service. “Vodafone Ghana is therefore working with a range of stakeholders including the security agencies, to initiate a campaign to stamp out cable theft,” the statement said. The statement quoted Vodafone Ghana Head of External Affairs Nana Yaa Ofori Atta as saying ‘we have intensified our campaign to catch those responsible for cable theft, who cause disruption not just to our customers, but to the local community. We are working with the Police at the highest level to make sure that we have the right resources to fight this.”