BTCL to go “copper-free”

The BTCL posted a 23% drop in pretax profits for the year to March 2023, blaming the drop on the replacement costs for stolen copper cables as well as once-off restructuring expenses. Directors noted that the total impact of copper cable theft reached P56 million in the year, while restructuring costs were pegged at P55 million.

Officials commenting in the Corporation’s annual report released this week said the investment in fibre rollouts to replace the legacy copper networks, would be significantly stepped up going forward, under the group’s revised strategy.

BTCL chair, Lorato Boakgomo-Ntakhwana described the year to March 2023 as “challenging” adding that this was specifically in the light of an “unprecedented increase” in theft and vandalism of copper infrastructure.

BTCL plans to increase its LTE and radio networks across the country, raising internet speeds for customers and spreading access.

Officials added that the copper replacement programme, known as de-coppering, would also present an opportunity for BTCL to modernise its telecommunications network infrastructure and ready it to support the capacity requirements of digital services and digital content consumption.