Fighting back — cellphone providers and business collaborate to combat EC hijacking hotspots
After a spike in truck hijackings on the Addo Road in Motherwell, businesses began looking for solutions. A common factor reported by truck drivers hijacked was the lack of cellphone signal, which prevented them from calling for help.
While tracking systems work in the absence of cellphone networks, data is not always sent out timeously in low-network areas.
Recently, construction manager Victor Ngcobo was kidnapped on the R335 near Monument Crossing — an area identified as having a particularly poor signal. He was later found unharmed.
Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber CEO Denise van Huyssteen said discussions around the hijackings also revealed that poor cellphone reception was contributing to the area's status as a crime hotspot.
'We asked two cellular network provider companies to do an assessment of the cellphone coverage in the area. One of the two reverted back with a report which indicated that there was a lack of coverage in the area, and that infrastructure upgrades would be required to address this situation,' she said.
Van Huyssteen said the chamber had also approached Google Maps as the Maps App indicated that the R335 was the 'shortest route' to take visitors and tourists to Addo Elephant National Park.
'It automatically takes users on the shortest route to Addo, which means that incoming visitors to the metro travel there along the R335. We rallied our members to go onto Google Maps and log the road as a high-risk road. This resulted in the route being blocked and travellers being re-routed along other more safer routes,' she added.
Zakhele Jiyane, Managing Executive for Vodacom Eastern Cape region, confirmed that the organisation was approached by the business chamber to see if there was something Vodacom could do to fix the cellphone network in the area.
'Vodacom has successfully completed upgrades on 11 base station sites in Addo in Sarah Baartman District Municipality and along R335, connecting Addo to Motherwell. Among these upgrades, four sites have improved cellphone coverage specifically for the Addo CBD, local police station, farming community, and the new Addo Spar center. The remaining six sites extend coverage along R335 road.
Coverage '10% improved'
'Following our upgrades, coverage has improved by an impressive 10%, particularly on the R335 road. Furthermore, the upgrades have significantly reduced areas without service, and the network capacity has increased by 15%. This means more users can stay connected for longer periods on the network.
'Critically, as part of our commitment to support both the Addo community and local businesses, we have plans to improve connectivity in the area in this financial year.
'For example, we are planning to deploy high-power signal boosters to cover the remaining section without service on R335, and we will do this within six months. Secondly, we are planning to deploy additional base stations to help achieve full coverage for the Addo CBD, police station and community during the 2025/2026 financial year,' Jiyane said.
He said the Vodacom Eastern Cape region had invested more than R500-million over the last financial year on modernising the network, energy projects and accelerating broadband coverage across the province, particularly in townships and deep rural areas of the province.
R1bn long-term investment
This is an investment totalling over R1-billion over two years and forms part of Vodacom's long-term vision, to have the widest and most reliable network accessible to all South Africans, he said.
MTN SA, in written responses, confirmed that they would conduct a drive test to verify signal strength and identify gaps.
'Currently, MTN has 4G deployment at this specific location. MTN did experience operational issues at this location at the end of March and the start of April 2025, however the issue has been resolved. While MTN confirms coverage at this location, a further drive test will be done to test the service performance in the area. This test will be concluded within the next few days,' the statement continued. DM
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