Telkom creates domino effect, causing chaos for work-from-homers

“Hi Wendy, please can you assist?”

Clifford’s e-mail of last week began like the scores of others I receive daily, but the issue was a first for me.

“The Telkom Mobile/LTE Mast in Long Ave, Glenhazel, has been turned off by the landlord as Telkom has not paid the electricity account. I have spoken to the landlord, who confirmed this,” he said.

“This may work for him, but not for my wife, a doctor, or myself, a chartered accountant, as we both currently work from home.”

Nor for the rest of the Telkom customers in that Johannesburg area who rely on that tower for connectivity, I assume.

So it seems we work-from-homers who rely on cellphone masts not only have to worry about repeated load-shedding running the masts’ batteries down to the point that they stop working, we must also worry about the masts being disconnected by gatvol landlords!

In this case, it was not the first time it had happened. The same landlord switched off the Telkom cellphone tower on his property last year after the mobile network failed to pay him for electricity and rent.

“Under this arrangement, Telkom reimbursed the owner for the electricity required to run the site and paid him a monthly rental amount,” MyBroadband reported.

“This tower provides better mobile connectivity for Telkom customers in the area, but he switched it off after Telkom did not pay its rent and electricity for a period of months.

“This disconnection followed months of non-payment and repeated requests by the property owner.”

Telkom started paying its bill again, but MyBroadband reported that the payments were not covering the costs of running the tower and rental payments were often late.

By contrast, the landlord said, the owner of the other cellphone tower on his property, Cell C, paid more than double what Telkom did to rent the same space and always paid on time.

I asked Telkom for how many months it had not paid rent or electricity to that Glenhazel landlord and why not.

Also, how many masts has Telkom erected on privately owned property around the country, and are they in arrears in respect of any more of them?

Have other landlords resorted to “turning off” the towers due to non-payment?

Responding, Telkom’s group communication executive Mooketsi Mocumi said: “Telkom has a fixed rental and electricity contract with the landlord and in this case the electricity variable was beyond the contracted amount. Therefore the landlord in this case would invoice Telkom for the variance.

“Unfortunately he was in contact with personnel who had left the employ of our service provider and therefore the invoices were not picked up for some time. Telkom has made contact with the landlord and is processing the outstanding payment.”

I got hold of the landlord, who asked not to be named, and he filled in the gaps in that account.

Telkom initially paid him a set amount every month to cover rent for the mast and the cost of the electricity used to run it.

“But it soon became apparent that the amount didn’t even cover the cost the electricity the mast used,” he said, “so the new arrangement was that they would read the electricity meter connected to their mast themselves and pay us accordingly.

“They did so for a few months, but stopped just before lockdown.”

After months of subsidising Telkom’s mast costs, the landlord flipped the switch in protest last week.

“I mean, Telkom is quick to cut your service if you don’t pay them, aren’t they?” he said.

It’s hard to argue with that!

So Clifford, suddenly without connectivity — again —  contacted me; I contacted Telkom and two days later, on went the mast.

“Telkom has agreed to read the meter and pay us accordingly,” the landlord said.

“It wasn’t invoices which I was sending to two senior Telkom employees for months, not realising they had both left the company,” he said, “It was my e-mails asking them to resume reading that electricity meter and pay me what I was owed.

“So now Telkom will install a meter I can read myself and then I will bill them every month.”

More than 5,000 — that’s how many private property leases Telkom has.

“We do not have similar problems, unless a landlord does not invoice Telkom for the variance,” Mocumi said.

Or unless the landlord’s contact person at Telkom leaves and they don’t know it.

“We are exploring the installation of smart meters to avoid such issues,” Mocumi said.

And then he said sorry to Clifford and others affected by the mast being disabled.

“Telkom apologises for the inconvenience caused to the residents of Glenhazel.”

Clifford is very happy indeed.

“Your assistance with this matter has been invaluable,” he said, two days after his initial e-mail. “The mast is back on!”

How long would it have taken for Telkom to pay up had Clifford not sent me that “please help” e-mail? We’ll never know.

Given what’s at stake, I venture to suggest that perhaps Telkom should ensure that when key personnel leave the organisation, an auto-response be put on their e-mail addresses, alerting people, such as that landlord, and providing alternative contact details.

Not hard.