Load shedding is here to stay, what is telkom doing about it.
Every time load shedding strikes I have very poor or no data connectivity. 

So I want to ask what plans do you have in place to minimize the  impact of load shedding on your network? And what do you plan to do in the near future to address poor connectivity during load shedding?

Have you tried to stop battery backup thieves? Have you considered putting in or moving towers to secure complexes? You just agree to pay the complex and those in the complex a little rent (like you do with paying a little rent to private property owners to let you put your tower on their property) buy having your towers in complexes with security at the entrance and patroling you immediately limit the access of battery thieves and make it extremely difficult for them to gain access to your towers and batteries. You could also just keep the battery backups a small distance away, hidden in the garden of a private house or secure complex with good security. Just pay a small rental and I'm sure the property owner or complex will be ok with it. I know some people are afraid of living close to towers so the battery idea may be a better option. 

Have you considered shopping malls and shopping centers as an option as you could have an agreement with the mall to supply the tower with power from the malls backup generators. You wouldn't even need batteries and malls generally have their own security on site with good camera surveillance. You could do the same with petrol stations that have their own backup generators and petrol stations operate 24/7. You could even just agree to pay a little every month just to connect to the petrol stations generator and just install the wiring from the tower to the petrol stations or malls power/ generator supply without the cost of moving the whole tower. 

Have you considered live cameras monitored by a security company, monitoring the entrance to the towers 24/7 where the security can quickly send a dispatch if there are no confirmed tower maintenance approvals and they see someone trying to tamper with the towers. 

Have you considered putting GPS in the batteries with a panic signal if it detects movement? So you can arrest the criminals stealing your batteries and destroying network data access to so many users. 

