Site infrastructure has typically been treated in a stepbrotherly fashion. It is only when wireless operators started hiving off their tower companies and independent infrastructure providers emerged that due importance began to be given to this segment. Still, the industry is a long way off from maturing.
Opportunities and challenges
Operators face several challenges with infrastructure management. Multiple approvals are required for setting up, maintaining and managing sites. There is little coordination between the state and central authorities. There have been cases when the state authority has granted a certain clearance for the calendar year while the central authority has given clearance for the financial year, leaving the wireless operator in a quandary.
In other instances, individuals at the grassroots level have ended up creating an issue over land acquisition or allowing vehicles to pass through to the site of the base station.
Estate management comes with its own set of requirements and challenges.There is the issue of site selection and employment of site security guards.Companies also need to manage their rental demands. Infrastructure providers often run into access problems at the radio, telecom and technology sites. In remote/underdeveloped circles, tackling organised anti-social elements operating in the garb of unions and parties is a major problem. On the flip side, in urban areas, neighbourhood management and noise pollution are issues.
Power management is another key concern. It is difficult to operate sites without commercial power. There is theft of power and often, diesel misappropriation. Only 11 per cent of telecom sites have power along with site readiness, while only 21 per cent of the towers get power within 60 days. The majority, 55 per cent, of the towers get power within 90 days.
However, along with the challenges observed in infrastructure management there is also a host of opportunities in various fields such as estate management services (legal aid inclusive), training, operations and maintenance (O&M), specialisation at the circle/cluster level and energy management.
Managing infrastructure optimally involves effective monitoring and control at the operations and maintenance centre (OMC). Infrastructure providers need to migrate to an independent and robust OMC system and invest in O&M as well as manpower retention (company HR practices need to become more inclusive). There is a need for centrally located specialist teams for online guidance and attending to complex faults. Maintaining a spares inventory is also important.
Tower analytics
There are several analytics companies that can facilitate infrastructure management by carrying out predictive analytics to enhance productivity, improve asset utilisation and maximise availability. This involves the following:
The key advantages of tower analytics include decreasing revenue loss by reducing base transceiver station-down scenarios and enhancing service level agreement performance. The other benefits include improved asset availability, optimised diesel generator (DG) fuel refill schedules, reduction in energy costs, reduction in DG fuel pilferage losses, and savings in security labour costs.
Examples of tower analytics include carrying out asset management analysis, including predictive maintenance and troubleshooting and fuel/energy demand forecasting and inventory planning, which is expected to increase device uptime and reduce inventory and operation costs.
Field service and parts management, which includes a replacement strategy/ reliability analysis, a service history analysis and performance reporting, and route optimisation/O&M team effectiveness, are likely to decrease the mean time to repair, increase the mean time between failures, and decrease service costs.
Sriram K. Moorthy, Head, Delivery and Analytics, ConnectM; Rajat Mukarji, Chief Corporate Affairs, Idea Cellular; and Colonel Gyan Kumar, Regional Head, XCEL Telecom
