The 3rd largest economy in Africa is having trouble operating its telecom networks. Telecom service providers incur millions in operating costs as a result of the nation’s recent increase in power outages.

Mobile network providers including Vodacom, MTN (MTNJ.J), and 40% state-owned Telkom (TKGJ.J) are battling to keep their networks operational as the country’s power grid collapses, leaving Africa’s most developed economy in the dark for up to 10 hours a day.

Companies are investing millions to put up solar panels, batteries, and even try out wind turbines while attempting to strike agreements with independent power suppliers to supplement the production of struggling state utility Eskom, which is becoming more and more unreliable. The telecom companies are forced to divert funds from the deployment of 5G and urgently needed network upgrades.

In the last year, power interruptions have cost MTN, South Africa’s second-largest operator, around 640 million rand ($36 million) in service revenue.

The majority of network towers in South Africa have a battery for backup power, while more sophisticated systems are less prevalent. For instance, MTN only has about 3,000 diesel generators and solar panels at a few test locations in South Africa while having 12,900 towers there.

According to CEO Mupita, MTN is investing roughly 9 billion rand in capital projects in South Africa, with the majority going toward the deployment of diesel generators and longer-lasting batteries.

There are other difficulties besides money. Criminal gangs are stepping up their efforts to target recently installed generators, batteries, and steal fuel.

Recently, burglars broke through concrete to steal wires, radio transmitter processors, and an air conditioner from a tower site used by Vodacom and MTN in Soweto, a sizable township south of Johannesburg.

The power sector’s governing organization announced that it was thinking about ways to “mitigate the impact of load-shedding on service provision, economic activity, and social well-being.”