Unknown vandals have destroyed telephone communications system at the State House in Arusha City.

The Regional Manager for Tanzania Telecommunications Company (TTCL) in Arusha, Mr Laibu Leonard, has confirmed the vandalism, adding that the alleged thugs took away the phone cables and their connectors, leaving the State House totally cut off from landline-based voice and data communications.

According to the TTCL Manager, the loss incurred by his company from such theft has amounted to nearly 1 billion/- so far and his office was still taking stock. He added that the recent thefts are not confined to the State House but is also being experienced in other parts of Arusha City and its suburbs.

He pointed out that about 2 500 other clients of TTCL in Arusha will suffer breakdown in communications following the upsurge of criminal waves targeting landline telephone communications infrastructures, with already 41 different locations reporting such theft cases.

According to Mr Leonard, last year alone, TTCL lost 951 million/- from such vandalism which should have been the equivalent of what the company earned from customers' bills. The TTCL's Regional Manager mentioned the notorious areas where telephone wires were being stolen as Kwa-Idd section of Ngaramtoni, Sakina-Azimio, Themi- Njiro and Sanawari.

Vandalism is also being experienced in Mianzini area, Soweto quarters, Kaloleni Ward, Arusha Technical College, Sekei and parts striding Moshi-Arusha road. Mr Leonard is yet to divulge steps that his company plans to take in order to curb such incidences.