Skyriders Access Specialists (Pty) Ltd. recently installed working-at-height safety anchors to allow telecoms technicians safe access to install and maintain equipment for Maredi Telecoms in Polokwane.

Maredi Telecoms is a next-generation telecoms infrastructure deployment and field services company focusing on the ICT, rail, electricity, and education sectors throughout Africa. This project represents the latest collaboration between the two companies, as well as Skyriders’ ongoing involvement in the burgeoning telecoms sector, Marketing Manager Mike Zinn explains.

A two-person specialist team completed the project successfully over a two-day period in March. “It was a relatively straightforward scope of work, utilising our rope-access skill set in assisting our client to reduce its maintenance costs and downtime, while ensuring the health and safety of its technicians at all times, especially when working at height,” Zinn comments.

Another recent project that showcased Skyriders’ diversification into different niche markets was a maintenance project for the 237-m-tall Sentech Tower in Johannesburg, known originally as the Brixton Tower.

“As with Maredi Telecoms, our collaboration with Sentech has definitely given us a foot in the door for similar projects. This represents a significant growth area for us, especially when you consider the extent of telecoms infrastructure throughout Africa, and its growing maintenance requirements to keep up with increasing urbanisation and industrialisation on the continent,” Zinn elaborates.

In addition to traditional rope access, Skyriders continues to innovate, such as its recent acquisition of an Elios collision-tolerant drone from Flyability of Switzerland. “This is one of the latest inspection technologies available for indoor and confined spaces. It offers a particular synergy with rope access that we hope to exploit increasingly in future, allowing us to offer our customers a total solution for all of their maintenance requirements,” Zinn concludes.