Militias and drug gangs prevent Oi technicians from accessing 105 communities in Brazil Rio de Janeiro

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Militias, drug traffickers and gangs are blocking the access of Oi technicians to the company’s infrastructure in 105 locations in the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro, as well as in other state municipalities such as Angra dos Reis, Búzios, Cabo Frio and Itaguaí.

The data were presented by Oi’s Institutional Relations Manager Alexander Castro during a webinar on “network infrastructure security and integrity” at the 2021 Telebrasil Panel. He said the data are part of the company’s monitoring in Rio de Janeiro.

The assessment shows that in August 2019 there were access obstructions to 25 areas in the Rio metropolitan region. The number increased to 81 in February 2021 and reached 105 locations on September 1. “We are not fantasizing or exaggerating,” Castro said. “The problem is serious and has been escalating.”

He explained that the company typifies obstruction of access to localities in different ways, such as through the company’s security area, by occurrences registered with the police, or through interviews conducted in the community on local visits. Or simply when gangs obstruct the technicians’ access.

“On site visits, it is clear that gangs are preventing our technicians from accessing the area to enter the station, to perform maintenance, or to replace stolen or damaged cables. This also affects customers. Customers are unable to use the service. And it also affects the company’s image,” Castro said.

In addition to the inability to access areas, Oi presented data on vandalism, theft and robbery suffered by the company in 2020 throughout the country. There were 73,000 records of theft or robbery of cables and equipment. A total of 3.5 million meters of copper cables were stolen, in addition to 1,000 equipment items (such as transmission boards and routers).

“The Civil Police, as much as possible, are trying to stop the theft of copper. We are no longer talking about crack users who steal copper to melt it and make money to buy drugs. We are talking about criminal organizations, gangs, that effectively use the stolen material, either to sell it as scrap or to supply it to entities that use this type of illegal service,” Castro said.