Telecommunications giant MTN South Africa is advancing its partnership with the Gauteng Provincial Community Police Board to tackle vandalism and theft at its towers in a proof-of-concept project in Soweto.

This followed the February announcement of the innovative collaboration aimed at supporting community policing forums (CPFs) to mitigate the escalating issue of network infrastructure theft and vandalism, with follow-up discussions at an event in March centred around strategies, technological advancements and community collaboration aimed at combating these widespread issues.

Currently being implemented in Soweto, a command centre has been established, with laptops, printers and other necessary equipment for data collection, as part of the initial stage of the partnership.

The partnership will leverage technology such as CCTV cameras and WiFi points, with efforts made to detect criminal activity and promptly alert responders.

“We are currently witnessing an unprecedented surge in vandalism and theft targeting networking infrastructure. To address this issue, MTN has chosen Soweto as a proof of concept for a partnership between us and the government aimed at finding a solution ahead of rolling it out across the country,” said MTN South Africa stakeholder relations GM Ramsey Mosethedi.

“Engaging with CPFs is a strategic decision because of their intimate knowledge of the community, as our primary objective is to collaborate with the community to safeguard infrastructure crucial for socioeconomic well-being and development.”

MTN South Africa CEO Charles Molapisi previously said that the partnership with the Gauteng Provincial Community Police Board would see technology harnessed to prevent and reduce incidents, protect network tower infrastructure and minimise network downtime and its impact on the connectivity experience of subscribers, and to ultimately ensure that communities were safer.