Temporary and not so temporary sites ideal for new networks, network expansions, construction sites, mining, special events, emergencies...- a never ending list

Temporary sites are a complex issue, be they for mobile (cell) networks or other wireless applications and I thought that I would try and set some clarity round them in this blog.

The first point is that temporary sites are just as likely to not be on a trailer as they are to be on one – Cell on Wheels or Site on Wheels (COW/SOW) is very much the norm for temporary sites in some areas and for some applications they are ideal but in other situations they need not be trailer mounted.  The good thing about COW’s is that they have everything in an immediately deployable format – power, tower and base station.  Ironically that can make it a bad thing as often an equipment failure in the base station or power generator requires the whole site to be demobilised and taken back to workshop for repairs.  It depends on how long the service will be required to run from that site – if it’s for a special event like a festival or an unexpected disaster then a wheeled option is probably a good idea.  Town planning is generally the same for wheeled or un-wheeled temporary sites.

What about circumstances where coverage will be required for a longer period but not permanently – and it is probably worth mentioning these circumstances in a bit more detail.  Take the construction industry and particularly major infrastructure projects.  These will put a lot of people in a concentrated area at one time and there will be large data needs as drawings and specifications are all issued electronically these days.  To cope with this bandwidth demand there has just been "ad-hoc" solutions including fibre to the site (expensive) and hoping the mobile coverage is good enough.  What is a better approach is to build a dedicated wireless site that does broadband and mobile communications for the site.  

Mining is similar but tends to be in existence for a lot longer than most construction projects and, as mine automation increases, there is a need for more quality wireless services in and around mine sites to allow autonomous and remote control of plant.  The tower and base station sites that provide this need to be in a location for a while but also need to be adaptable to relocate easily to suit the mines growing needs.

Another area where temporary sites are great is in achieving quick area coverage – temporary sites providing area coverage until the permanent site is brought on line – and it’s also a good way of testing  a new technology or a network without doing a full build.  Mind you I do know of at least one “temporary” site in London that is still transmitting more than 15 years after it was installed!

So what is the answer – well for short term deployments a COW/SOW is a really good idea – easy to get there and set up and service for only a few weeks – anything more than that in terms of time and you really need to look at alternative solutions – in the old days this used to mean tonnes of steel grillage and a small lattice tower with a big clunky generator running 24/7 – however the good news – and it is good news in terms of ease and speed of deployment – is that with modern materials such as GeoStrut carbon fibre telescoping towers and our unique foundation system you can erect a 20m tower with a tri sectored site and microwave link in no time at all.  Combine this with a really effective (and network proven) hybrid power system and a quite genset is only running a couple of hours a day and saving over 80% in fuel and servicing over one running the same time.  Clearly these are really powerful and intelligent solutions.

Finally – on the power front you may be able to get a friendly neighbour to allow the site to be plugged into their supply for a small fee – but here is a tale of caution.  As a young project manager working in the UK I did this for a temporary site I had build in North Wales – I was feeling very smug as I had the site up on air a week early – however we kept getting an intermittent power fail on the site.  Several times we sent technicians out and the mystery fault could not be found.  One of our more engaging technicians was there on a cold day and was invited in to the neighbours kitchen for tea and toast and saw “our” precious power cord being unplugged to allow the toaster to be plugged in – mystery solved!!!!

Well played Ninjas...

I heard a really good joke recently that went like this:

"I looked up Ninjas on Thesaurus.com - the computer told me Ninjas could not be found - well played Ninjas, very well played..."

It made me think about how we are building wireless and telco sites and I suddenly realised that we have drifted away from the skill sets that used to be in site acquisition and design 10 years ago when sites were built with a bit more consideration and thought about how they would look - and we have sadly gone back to the mantra of "speed is king" in network roll-outs.  Fast deployments are important but its project management 101 - a three legged stool of time, cost and quality - cut one leg and the stool falls over and that's what is happening here in Australia right now.  We may have technical quality but if sites are getting refused on visual impact then environmental quality has left the building and that stool is wobbling or falling - impacting time and cost - (delays in town planning - having to find new sites - additional acquisition and design fees - and lost income from not getting a site on air where one is needed)

I read a press article today about how the Council for the town of Buninyong, near Ballarat had rejected an application to build a 40 metre tower because of the "unacceptable visual impact" - now it is difficult to get true public opinion out a press article but there it was - this was not about EME concerns, this was not NIMBY's this was a tower that was turned down because of visual impact. Rather concerning this tower was intended for the NBN wireless roll-out - so ultimately a government agency - surely they must have high visual standards one would think?  Similar stories abound in rural areas such at Tamworth - this time again for NBN, in WA this time for Telstra, Optus has one just up the road from me - every operator has at least one and some have many many more.

And what happens in urban areas is just as bad - almost without fail when objections first start about a site it is not about EME or health or house values or noise or any other of the issues that get whipped up - no - the initial objections time after time after time are about the visual aspects - and I am not surprised because some rooftop sites look frankly horrible and they wouldn't be on my roof for sure!!

Now I know that some in the industry will say I am just plugging "Stealth " products because my company is the Australian agent for them (see http://www.entirenetworksolutions.com/infrastructure-solutions/stealth-products/) - well yes I am their agent - but here's the thing - I am their agent because I see ugly sites every day that should not be there, I see inappropriate sized towers build in view lines every day that should not be there.  Above all though, most sites do not need a Stealth solution - set the antennas back a couple of metres from the roof edge - go for a lighter duty monopole that is thinner and - here's an idea - pop it into trees at just above the tree line not 20m above the treeline - if you do that then when you have an architecturally challenging site or a landowner that insists on it - well then come and speak to me about a Stealth solution because that's when you need a camouflaged solution.

As an industry we need to look at our legacy - we have a great responsibility to roll-out high speed high capacity wireless data and voice networks world wide - but where does it say they have to be horrible to look at and ruin the look of buildings to achieve it.

Lets get smarter at choosing, designing and building sites with some sympathy to the environment they are in and also with consideration for the people who live with the visual impact of sites.  Sounds like Telcotom has gone soft? - well here's another thing for everyone in an operator to think about - everyone that can see that ugly site is a potential customer - everyone who protests about that site is almost certainly a customer lost - and imagine if one of your competitors was building sites with just a little more thought and didn't run into visual impact problems, didn't have councils rejecting sites for "unacceptable visual impact" - where do you think those customers churn over to....

So here's a takeaway for you - the next time you send a brief out for a new site, or if you are the one looking for, designing or building a new site - remember the Ninja joke and make your site so it cant be found.

Well played Ninjas, very well played...

The Year Ahead

Firstly I wish you all a happy and prosperous new year - this is the time of year when all manner of predictions are made for the year ahead - and I often wonder how many of these are checked out at the end of the year....

Anyway - I'm not going to make any fanciful predictions here because I have enough sense to know that things can change - however one thing is clear and that is the ongoing growth of wireless networks - be they for conventional mobile, mobile broadband and so on we will undoubtably see more and more wireless in the world.  This will put huge demands onto spectrum and network capacities and there will be ongoing new site builds and existing site upgrades as the existing networks start to creak and groan at the seams with the ammount of data being transmitted and as new networks are rolled out.

So what is needed in the coming year - I see a couple of things coming up:

Networks will need sites that can be build ecconomically and offer savings in capex - this means a complete rethink on current site designs and layouts and use of materials.  The use of items like GeoStrut carbon fibre monopoles and rooftop stub towers offer such an opportunity in cost and time saving - same strengths as steel but at about 10% of the weight makes the advantages obvious.  Hybrid power systems will also start to gain ground once network operators realise that its not just a "green" thing - it actually saves opex $ as well.

In an effort to save the networks from overloads I also think we will see things like the rise of WiFi data off-loads - particularly in retail environments where there is growing WiFi coverage and heavy mobile data demand.  In city areas we will also see more and more outdoor DAS systems come on line (watch Crown Castle in the US for this - quiet - and astute -achievers in this market at the moment).  We will also see more refarming of the older GSM spectrums to allow LTE roll-outs - interesting just now here in Australia as many of these original spectrum licences are coming up for renewal - no doubt some tense negotiations with the government agencies will result.


Finally I think as more and more new or upgraded sites are needed, even with smaller equipment, there is going to be more and more need for sites to be better blended to their surroundings.  I dont think we will see a rush on palm tree sites but more "Stealth" type screening on rooftop sites where parapet extensions to exactly match the building and so on will be required - either by town planning restrictions or just as a means of getting sites in certain areas.

Whatever the new year brings I hope it is a peaceful and happy one for you and your family

Indian domestic smart pad/tablet

Hi,

For those of you that remember a blog I did about 3g and LTE (4g) in India a few months ago (http://telcotom.blogspot.com/2011/07/3g-and-lte-4g-in-india-oh-and-and-my.html) I am pleased - no delighted - to see that there is now a smart pad device available that is made domestically and is affordable - this is indeed fantastic news and all invloved should be congratulated on what they have achieved as should the government for seeking this solution.  See the article in the New York Times at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/13/opinion/sunday/friedman-the-last-person.html

So this is a fantastic move - a device like this makes not only education more achievable but also can be used for medical triage, mobile banking and for the growth of commerce.  Producers can check prices and even sell on line, farmers can learn of better techniques and even get better weather information - in short this is a major strategic step in the ecconomic growth of India.

It is vital now then that the Government, the telecommunication / wireless operators and also the tower companies work hard to ensure that the infrastructure is build to support these smart pads nationwide.  Not just geographic coverage either - capacity for data volume needs to be built in now and not considered much later.

This will mean using smarter and innovative materials not only for the actual the towers (where carbon fibre is the obvious answer) but also the power systems and backhaul for the networks.  This clearly cant be done overnight - it is an immense but vital project.

It might even be an idea in villages to look at a complete solution that has a quickly deployable 30m monopole along side a reliable hybrid solar/wind/ bio diesel genset plant that not only provides power for the tower but also for the village itself??

This smart pad is a great thing for India and it will be a life changer for so many locked in poverty just now. Fantastic!!

"Vorsprung durch Technic"

Vorsprung durch Technic or as it translates advancement through technology is a very well known advertising slogan used by Audi and I thought it was a great way to start this blog.

Its a real bugbear of mine that in the wireless and telecommunications world technologies fall into two categories - the actual communications technology that gets perceived as "smart" technology - all the fancy new gizmos with their flahing lights offering untold bandwidth, speed, capacity whatever and then there is what what is perceived as the "dumb" technology - all the infrastructure that supports, powers and essentially makes the smart stuff work. 

The problem is that the industry gets very excited about the new "smart" technologies - in mobile/ cell we see that now with LTE etc - state of the art technology, fantastic throughputs, great true broadband capacities, using remote radio units to solve feeder loss issues etc etc and, in all, every wireless/ cell equipment vendor has some really sexy new technology out there in LTE or WiMax right now - small units highly efficient - fantastic.

Fantastic that is until we review how this new technology is being supported - thats when we see ineffecient straight mains or diesel gensets for power with very limited renewable (or even hybrids with deep cell battery technologies) in sight, clumsy old design steel lattice towers and massive concrete foundations that need to be cast in situ - in short not much in the way of technology advancement in this area.

Its a shame because substantial savings can be made in both CAPEX and OPEX by looking at some new infrastucture options.   As operators try (need?) to save that last cent in both those areas to drive profits up and keep call costs down they need to break the mould of procurement for these types of product and use a "whole of network" cost rather than a cheapest unit cost model. 

Operators can make their networks even more efficient and cost effective to deploy and operate if they adopt the very latest in all the technologies used for the infrastucture and the actual communications equipment.

Or - to put it another way - how would Audi fare if they were selling cars that had all the latest computer controlled advanced engine management systems and superior ancillary equipment if they put it in the bodyshell of a 1970's car with pressed steel narrow wheels and no seat belts?

"Vorsprung durch Technik" - worth remembering...

Telco power and carbon taxes....

So Australia has the dreaded carbon tax.....

For those of you not in Australia and may not be aware of this, the government here introduced a carbon tax / pricing scheme last weekend and it prompted me to have a think about how legislation like this might affect wireless/mobile telcos.

The most obvious area is in power for sites.  Power consumption of base stations is certainly not as bad as it used to be but it’s still a twofold problem; firstly getting the power to the site, particularly in regional areas and secondly the operational cost of the power bill, be it either from a power supplier or in fuel for gensets.  This ,I think, has to be the main thrust of using renewable energy sources in Telco networks in that it’s not really about carbon taxes at all but simply about getting reliable supply to the site and trimming back the opex.

Regardless if its due to a price on carbon or just good operational business management, reducing costs and emissions has to be a good thing – it’s a well documented statistic that in India the mobile/wireless industry is one of the top five consumers of diesel fuel in the country so it doesn’t take a scientist to see the savings that even cutting fuel bills in half would make to network profits especially with the low ARPU’s there.  Here in Australia most sites are connected to mains power – why? Simply because they have always been and solar is only really getting a look in at remote locations where the cost of installing power lines is frightening.  It’s the same principal though – if smarter solutions are deployed that save power then the network operational costs go down and profits rise.

It’s important to understand as well that there is no single solution to this – adopting just renewable energy such as solar is not the whole answer – it needs to be a complete rethink on parameters of site designs.  A “whole of site” solution that involves wireless base stations that are heat ruggedized to a higher level, the use of free cooling units and fans, the use of shade (really cheap, really effective!!) through the range of solar panels and wind turbines powering batteries to keep the site running at a consistent and optimal power level.  In some cases this might be enough but if it is combined with a hybrid solution of either a cut into the mains or a genset start-up when the battery levels reach a predetermined level then the site will run very reliably with significant savings in energy costs.  There will be less emissions and less carbon used.  This should be at all sites, including urban rooftops, IBC’s and not just remote or rural sites – just the mix of solutions used may change to suit the site conditions.

All these solutions will be presented in detail at the “Smart Power for Smart Telecom Networks” conference and workshops in Sydney on 12 -13 September – http://bit.ly/mdCOWa

Of course in more rural areas using some surplus power to run common good infrastructure such as water pumps and the like is always a good side effect as well.

So where do I think carbon pricing/ taxes will impact us in the world of wireless and mobile networks – simple answer is steel towers.  The steel industry in Australia is getting compensation for a while due to the carbon pricing but most towers here are imported from Malaysia or China – so when these countries introduce a price on carbon, which they will, then steel prices will rise and so will tower costs.  In India this will have a bigger effect, depending upon when a carbon price / tax is introduced, given the huge numbers of towers currently manufactured there for the domestic and export markets. 

3g and LTE (4g) in India - (oh, and and my next speaking event!!)

One of the biggest drivers of change with the Indian economy will be the advent of data rich mobile/ wireless networks and data being available at affordable rates.  Abundant data availability will trigger entrepreneurs to sell their goods direct and on-line world wide and real steps will be made in mobile banking – this will cause a wave of growth and prosperity throughout the country.  Other benefits such networks allow are a comprehensive medical triage system using telemedicine and also educational uses.  In short the impact these networks shall have in India will be truly remarkable.

So why is even 3g taking so long to get out of the cities?  The reasons are many and complex but I see there being three main holdups:

Spectrum – the allocated spectrum was planned when the incredible explosion of data usage could not have been foreseen – therefore the spectrum bands are too narrow for effective deployments

Infrastructure – the costs of rolling out towers and power in particular to regional and remote areas makes little economic sense in terms of RoI and the Opex in power costs are unworkable.

Smartphones – the costs of iphones and blackberry devices is too high as it is for laptop computers with mobile broadband connectivity.

The mobile phone operators and the tower companies are doing what they can but they are basing roll-outs on this tight spectrum and also on outdated vertical infrastructure designs and even site layouts. 

So what is the solution?  OK let’s just for a minute “park” any political or commercial elements and look at pure solutions for these issues.

1. Spectrum – each operator has narrow spectrum availability and when the spectrum was first planned it was a different market – what would work is all the spectrum being handed back and re-farmed into decent options that allow high speed mobile data to be accommodated in sensible network planning.   Spectrum collaboration will allow better networks all round.

2. Infrastructure – the issue here is the cost and speed that network infrastructure is needed even to keep up with growing 2g (voice) subscribers. Newer, faster and more cost effective means of site roll-outs need to be adopted and in rural areas perhaps a government/ private partnership for the infrastructure would be the only way to make this work.  New materials, designs and renewable / hybrid power systems need to be adopted.

3. Handsets – It must surely only be a matter of time before a really affordable smartphone type product emerges from within India – maybe some manufacturers need to work together on this idea?

How could all of these things be achieved – well this is the biggest step – the current mobile operators and any new entrant would become Mobile Virtual Network Operators on a network that is rolled out as a single Government / Private (PPP) type model.  Spectrum would be amassed and used effectively in a single roll-out along with a single network build out.  Differing vendors could supply to different circles etc but with interoperability of standards this should be fine.  The tower companies would still be needed to roll-out sites of course and indeed would perhaps play a more pivotal role in this deployments model.  The operators would see savings in capex and opex and achieve their coverage quicker – and they would then be competing more openly on call rates as well. 

Throw an Indian made, affordable, smartphone into the mix and you would have more people connected to advanced networks faster than using the current methods.

If there was an appetite for this kind of solution (and I by no means think my ideas are the perfect solution – far from it!!) the time to start moving toward it will have to be sooner rather than later.

Anyway – closer to my Australian home – I’m speaking at the Smart Power for Smart Telco Networks in Sydney in September.  Ticket sales are now open and there are some pretty good speakers lined up and I understand tickets are selling well so I would get in quick!! Details can be found at

http://www.abovetheparapet.com.au/events/smart-power-for-smart-telecom-networks-2/

The Mobile Carriers Forum, a division of the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association are also doing their worldwide launch of the “Mobile Networks Energy Efficiency Training Programme” at the event and I, for one, can’t wait to see and hear details of that at the event