Broken conversations

A VELD fire at Otavi brought down the telecommunications system on Thursday, cutting off the entire northern Namibia from any telephone or cell-phone connections for the entire day.

Telecom’s Sacky Amunyela said on Friday that the fire burnt a plastic manhole cover causing a meltdown of the optic fibre cables – the veins – of voice and data communication. Cellphones were affected too because transmission between their respective base station relies on Telecom’s cables.All the areas to the north and east of Otavi, were out of reach.That included Tsumeb, Ondangwa, Oshakati and Oshikango, as well as Grootfontein, Rundu and Katima Mulilo, Amunyela said.Otavi is 350 km north of Windhoek.It took between 10 hours and 30 minutes to bring the system back on line.Cellphones were affected too because transmission between their respective base station relies on Telecom’s cables.All the areas to the north and east of Otavi, were out of reach.That included Tsumeb, Ondangwa, Oshakati and Oshikango, as well as Grootfontein, Rundu and Katima Mulilo, Amunyela said.Otavi is 350 km north of Windhoek.It took between 10 hours and 30 minutes to bring the system back on line.