The Namibian was informed that the rural and farming communities around Spitzkoppe, Uis, Okombahe and Otjimbingwe have been cut off from the rest of the world.

Seventy-year-old Gertrud Goagoses of the farm Graniet, about 30 km north of the Spitzkoppe, was in Swakopmund recently to visit a dentist.

When she returned home, her house's windows and doors were broken and thieves had plundered her home.

According to her son, Alex Maletsky, she immediately tried to call the Police, but there was no dial tone.

She needed to go to Usakos to inform the Police and lay a charge of housebreaking.

Those whose phones are cut off are still paying their phone bills, though.

According to Maletsky, there are many people in the rural areas who depend on friends and family in towns to pay their bills.

"Now those out there can't inform those living in the towns of their predicament.

Those paying would go and pay what ever needs to be paid - even if it's just the general service fees," he said.

A Telecom employee at Usakos, a Mr Brand, acknowledged the outage and said it had been going on for about two months.

He said copper thieves had cut kilometres of phone cable from the poles and stripped them of copper for the "black market".

"A lot of people in the rural areas have been affected," he told The Namibian.

He said Telecom was crediting people's accounts for the loss of service.

"They just have to come to Telecom and give their particulars and their accounts will be credited until the problem has been solved," he said.

Although cellphone reception is available in some areas, many people don't have electricity to charge their cellphone batteries.

According to a Telecom operator in the Erongo Region, Frikkie Coetzee, an alternative wireless service should be in place within a month for those in the Spitzkoppe area, while Telecom will also be testing a radio technology for more isolated customers.

"The soonest we'll have some people back on line will be within a month.

The rest we'll just have to take a piece at a time," he said.

The Namibian tried to contact Telecom Namibia's communications manager, Oiva Angula, but he was not reachable.

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