Mozambique: Infrastructure vandalism needs ‘tougher measures’ – telecoms operator

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Mozambique: Infrastructure vandalism needs ‘tougher measures’ – telecoms operator

5:02 CAT | 19 Sep 2025

FILE - Among the most "critical" points in the country, Mabunda points to the capital city and Maputo province, as well as Inhambane, in the south of the country, and Sofala, in the centre. [File photo: Tmcel]

Mozambican state-owned telecommunications operator Tmcel is complaining about infrastructure vandalism, claiming that it is hindering the expansion of the mobile network to “remote” areas of the country, and called on Thursday for “tougher” measures to curb these actions.

“Tmcel has a lot of infrastructure that has been vandalised and this compromises the expansion of the mobile network and the fixed network, causing huge losses,” said Manuel Mabunda, Tmcel’s security officer, on the sidelines of a forum on Preventing and Combating Vandalization of Public Infrastructure, which took place in Maputo.

According to Mabunda, vandalism can’t only be seen in the damage to equipment, but also when communications are interrupted, since replacing them involves “high investment”.

“There is a challenge for Tmcel, which is to expand the network to remote areas, but with vandalism it is compromised,” he said.

Among the most “critical” points in the country, Mabunda points to the capital city and Maputo province, as well as Inhambane, in the south of the country, and Sofala, in the centre.

Despite the involvement of the police in investigating these cases of vandalism, he acknowledged that this measure “is not having an effect”, as in Maputo: “We have seen situations where someone has gone to interrupt fibre or cut copper cables, and that person goes to the police. Because of the type of crime, which perhaps isn’t categorised in such a way, they end up being released, but the consequences of that were greater.”

For Manuel Mabunda, the penalties imposed by the Mozambican authorities for these types of offences are “lenient”.

“So, what we want to appeal to the institutions of justice, specifically the Prosecutor’s Office, the PRM [Police of the Republic of Mozambique], even the courts, is for the penalties to be a little tougher, to discourage these acts. Because if not, the situation will be complicated,” he concluded.

Lusa reported in July that Mozambican state-owned telecoms operator Tmcel recorded losses of 4,441 million meticais (€59.7 million) in 2024, double that of the previous year, according to a report and accounts.

In the document, the company states that it closed 2024 with a portfolio of 841,171 active mobile customers, compared to 717,052 a year earlier, while the fixed network service park fell in the same period from 27,562 to 25,363 lines.

In September 2023, the chairman of Tmcel’s management committee, Mahomed Adamo Mussá, said in Maputo that the Mozambican state-owned telecommunications company was undergoing a “new rebirth” as part of the revitalisation of operations, budgeted at $132 million (€121 million).

Management showed growth in various indicators with the inclusion of new products, already as a result of the project to expand and modernise the telecommunications network, financed by China’s Eximbank and in the final stages of completion.

Also as part of the modernisation and expansion of the network, which began in January 2022 after “almost 10 years without investment”, Tmcel, which operates a support network of 7,600 kilometres of optical fibre and 8,500 kilometres of access networks, had already increased broadband coverage from 10 to 400 gigabits per second (Gbps) by 2023, and global coverage by 4.5G in the mobile network.

Source: Lusa