Causes of Damaged Fibre Cable

Many Hermanus residents have been left frustrated with a seemingly endless series of outages caused by fibre cable breaks.

Internet fibre provider, Lightstruck, blamed Overstrand Municipality for the most recent interruption of internet services on social media two days in a row.

The cable damages / loss of fibre internet connection was caused when a sewer connection contractor servicing the streets in Mount Pleasant damaged a fibre cable while digging.

Photos taken on 19 April 2022 show that Lightstruck did not adhere to municipal requirements and that the cable was incorrectly installed directly behind the kerb. 

It also appears from the photo that the fibre provider did not install the cable at the minimum depth of 350mm. 

According to the Wayleave process and standards for the installation of services in road reserves- Overstrand Municipality, services providers must adhere to the following with reference micro-trenching:

1. No micro trenching will be allowed directly behind the road kerb and no trench will be allowed closer than 300mm behind the kerb. 

2. The minimum permissible cover to any cable/duct installed by micro trenching must be 350mm.

Overstrand Executive Mayor, Dr Annelie Rabie, said blame-gaming is not going to deal with the problem and requested the fibre provider to make sure about facts before blaming the Municipality for the fibre internet outage.

This repair is a matter between Lightstruck and the contractor (not the Municipality).

The Mayor instructed that no further work be done until Lightstruck has shown the sewer contractor exactly where their cables are.

Issued by Dr Annelie Rabie

Office of the Overstrand Executive Mayor

CAPTION:

The design layer works are 300mm in the sidewalk, consisting of 150mm gravel and 150mm insitu material. The layer works in the road are 450mm deep, consisting of 300mm gravel and 150mm insitu material. A wayleave was issued to the sewer contractor and 200m of waterline was installed next to the existing fibre line without damaging the existing cable.