Malawi Operator Crippled by HQ Fire

A fire at the headquarters of Celtel Malawi has crippled the network, and lead to a mass exodus of customers to rival operator, Telekom Networks Malawi (TNM) - who are now themselves suffering from network congestion. Reports in local media are suggesting that the fire broke out at Celtel House at the weekend, and was made worse by delays in calling the fire services.

When the fire brigade finally arrived, they then ran out of water before being able to access the 4th floor of the building where the fire was at its most intense. Fortunately, a recent delivery of network switches from Ericsson was stored separately and has not been affected by the fire.

The fire is believed to have been caused by a faulty air conditioning unit.

In a statement released on Tuesday evening Celtel said a chartered cargo plane carrying replacement supplies arrived in the country on Tuesday and that another one was expected yesterday with additional supplies. "So far the team has managed to restore cabling and power in the Celtel premises. It is now in advanced stages of testing the network capability before switching it on at an appropriate time,"

Posted to the site on 9th March 2007