Zain network service is cut off in Mingkaman after a suspected fuel theft shut down generators that power the telecom network station.
On Saturday night, thieves cut the wire mesh fence and extracted diesel from the tank that supplies generator.
The generators went off after they ran out of fuel—many zain subscribers in Mingakaman and local dealers in the airtime retail businesses have been affected.
Some subscribers who spoke to Mingkaman 100 FM say the absence of the zain network has cut them off from communication.
Rebecca Adhieu said she used zain to communicate with her family in Panagoor. “Now, it is not available; it gives me a hard time in the last two days to link with them,” said Adieu
Michael Thiong Nyok is an airtime dealer in Mingkaman. He said the airtime stock had not been sold out since the network cut off.
“I sell Zain airtime for business here. I came in the morning hoping it would come. Up to now, there is no information about the network disappearance,” Thiong stressed.
Zain representative in Mingkaman, Kuol Mach Ayok, said the management is addressing the issue. He said they suspected thieves broke into the station and cut the pipe that supplies fuel from the tank to the generator.
He urges users to bear with the situation, saying they are working to improve the fence to prevent similar incidents from happening again. Mach said they reported the matter to the authority, but no one has been arrested for the fuel theft.
Zain South Sudan is the second-largest telecommunication network company in the country, with an estimated 1,050,000 customers as of 31 December 2020, behind the market leader and sole competitor at that time, MTN South Sudan, with 1.7 million customers.