Johannesburg municipal mobile network blackout after Telkom service migration

The City of Johannesburg announced that a “temporary disruption” to municipal mobile lines is the result of a contractual transition to a new service provider. The city’s statement claimed that landlines and public‑facing contact centres remain operational, but testing by Daily Maverick found the primary administrative trunk (011 407) completely dead, leaving councillors and senior officials unable to reach each other.

The outage coincides with an alleged unpaid Telkom debt that council sources estimate could be as high as R40 million. Telkom declined to comment on the situation. City corporate communications executive Batlile Phaladi said the company does not comment publicly on contractual or commercial matters with individual customers.