Driving efficiencies in site operations

Complementing the multi-dimensional roundtables on operational issues at this year’s TowerXchange Meetup Africa, TowerXchange invited three stakeholders, Helios Towers, Econet Wireless and ieng Group to a panel to summarise some of the key steps they are taking to improve cell site operations. Here we summarise six of the key actions raised.

In an operationally challenging market such as Africa, where operators, towercos and O&M providers are tasked with managing a large number of sites, spread over large geographic areas, often with poor access due to underdeveloped infrastructure, challenging terrain or security concerns, and where local skills levels can typically be low - putting in place robust process and technologies to rollout and manage networks is of paramount importance.

It is an area where partnerships are key, from the mobile network operators using the sites and the towerco partners who may own the infrastructure, to the O&M providers who are in the field managing the day to day operations. To discuss some of the steps that the telecom industry is taking to drive efficiencies in the operation of sites, TowerXchange invited MNO Econet Wireless, towerco Helios Towers and O&M provider, ieng Group to join a panel discussion this October. 

Moderated by Spencer Crawford White from Delmec, the expert panel explored key steps that each of the stakeholders had taken to improve cell site operations and examined new areas that they planned to focus on for the year ahead. Discussions were supported by more detailed interactive roundtables on the specific topics, inviting input from additional companies and individuals. Here we summarise six of the key areas raised by this year’s panel. 

Over the past few years, one of Helios’ biggest undertakings from an operational standpoint was a full audit of their portfolio of 6,500 towers, conducted in partnership with Delmec. Historically, audits at sites had been conducted on an ad hoc basis, for example, when a client requested additional space on a site, and as such Helios had an incomplete picture of the condition of their tower portfolio. Working in partnership with Delmec, they devised a three year programme to do a full audit of their entire portfolio, looking at the maintenance condition of sites, their foundations, other inventory and structures around the sites as well as the additional capacity available. In creating full documentation on their sites it has enabled Helios to conduct a full analysis of their portfolio and work more efficiently. Helios was able to analyse their structures for the addition of more tenants, enabling them to create efficiencies in the design and upgrade process, prioritising which sites to upgrade first and having a clear picture of the ability to fulfil requests from operators. 

ieng Group commented how they had seen an increasing appetite across the African market for site audits, with towercos requiring detailed information on what was available on sites. Initially audits were in markets where acquisitions were happening and then the next logical step was to audit tower portfolios that had been acquired. Most of the acquired towers were built with a single tenant in mind and so audits led to a lot of strengthening work. 

Econet, who have formed an in-house ESCO, Distributed Power Africa, commented on their focus on standardising hybrid solutions, making sure that all sites have green power where possible. The company has just begun testing with lithium ion batteries but see a future where all new deployments would likely use lithium ion and Econet has also started exploring the use of diesel generators being run by LP gas. Econet underscored the importance of making sure whatever technology they used would stand the test of time and commented that they were moving away from the capex to an opex model, whereby the EPC contractor assumes responsibility for the equipment. They also commented that operators should be focussed on finding ways to reduce energy usage, driving down the power consumption of their active equipment.

Helios added that like everyone, they were also working to reduce opex through energy upgrades but as with Econet, ensuring a robust product was essential. The towerco commented that they were aiming to get below one minute of downtime per tower through efficient integration. Having acquired much of their portfolio there was a high degree of variation in the equipment installed on towers and Helios has been working to upgrade technologies over the past few years. With a mixture of good, bad and off-grid sites and sites in both rural and urban locations, one size never fits all but some element of standardisation is important as bespoke designs can slow you down. It is also important that power solutions are modular, Helios commented that their power consumption can rise from under 1kWh to 6kWh thanks to an increase in site lease up. When it comes to renewable energy, Helios has rolled out solar at 500 sites. Questioned on the subject of whether wind technology could present a viable alternative, Helios commented that there was always the concern that it would take up space that could be sold to a customer. Innovations are however always coming through with Helios adding that every time they come to TowerXchange, they find that someone is doing something new. 

On site operations, Econet explained that the principal challenges they were experiencing related to the integration of different technologies. With multiple companies and stakeholders involved, finger pointing can ensue and complications arise. Having a single point of contact would help to alleviate some of this headache, each site should have a single company which is responsible for operations, taking ownership of the site as a whole. 

In the past three years, Helios observed that they had reduced the number of suppliers they were working with by 80%. For site operations, this has enabled Helios to build strong partnerships with contractors, training and supporting them and giving them responsibility for the network. 

Helios spoke extensively at the 2017 Meetup about their initiative to bring down sites visits to an average of one site visit per month. In Q4 2015, Helios’ average downtime per tower per week was 22 minutes and they were visiting sites on average six times a month. This level of inefficiencies led to Helios adopting their business excellence programme. Helios are currently down to an average of just over one site visit per month but see potential to advance this to one site visit per quarter. The biggest source of accidents in the business relates to the amount of travelling, reducing this will not only improve efficiency but also health and safety. 

ieng Group added that from an O&M provider’s perspective, one site visit per month enables them to also save costs, reducing the amount of human resources required, the amount of truck rolls and the amount of time spent on sites. Ieng Group added that it is an interesting model being explored between towercos and their partners and something that can lead to considerable savings for all concerned.

Whilst reducing the number of site visits can help to curb costs, ensuring that sites are functioning in the interim between increasingly spaced out visits is of paramount importance. The volume of data obtained from the multitude of remote monitoring systems can be overwhelming and so how best to manage this data remains a priority. Helios commented that they rely on their IT department and product partners to turn data into a beneficial operational action. Gathering and analysing information effectively will enable the towerco to take their site management to the next level.

Both Econet and Helios commented on the number of different RMS platforms that they have trialled, with varying degrees of success reported. The biggest challenges have come from the reliability of the systems and also the support provided. RMS is key however in moving from a reactive to proactive environment at the NOC, Helios are shifting to this at their operations in Ghana first and Econet commented on their increasing move to also rely more on preventative approach.  

Drones have become something of a hot topic and buzz word in the industry at the moment, although usage of the technology is still in the early stages. Delmec explained they were passionate about drones and were using them quite a bit in Europe for line of sight activities; Helios explained that they were trialling the usage of drones in Ghana, using the technology to check active equipment and could also see that the technology would have useful applications for site acquisition purposes. The panel felt that the potential held by drones was phenomenal but that the technologies still required further development. 

The panel provided just a snapshot of some of the current thinking and focus at the region’s cell site owners and operators with more focused roundtables on energy, site management systems, site visits, operations and upgrades tackling the topics in more depth. To get involved in 2019’s roundtables or to share your views on optimising site operations, contact Matthew Edwards, Head of Research EMEA: Matthew.edwards@towerxchange.com