- Gain exceptional reach to connect all your tower assets no matter where they are
- Enjoy massive cost reductions
- Increase operational simplicity
- Access a highly reliable and secure connection
- Experience global and operational support for a quick and efficient roll-out
Towers are increasingly being used in remote areas around the world to enable connectivity, and help telecommunications companies and broadcasters expand and gain further network reach than ever before. However, these increasingly common remote assets are constantly at risk.
Every day, remote towers are subjected to downtime, subpar maintenance or unnecessary energy consumption, as well as fuel theft or compromised security. For assets that are valued between $200,000 and $250,000 per installation, such risks pose a major threat to tower operators and telecommunications companies alike. These challenges usually result in unplanned downtime which disappoints their customers, ultimately leading to loss of revenue and expensive unplanned maintenance. If towers are not monitored effectively, operators are forced to deal with higher costs, unnecessary energy consumption and loss of important resources.
This has led business leaders around the world to find better ways to protect their assets.
Monitoring towers
Monitoring cellular, TV or radio towers is the natural course of action for these companies. If tower operators and telecommunications companies are able to effectively monitor their towers, they can ensure that they will be the first to know if something is amiss in these remote sites.
How tower monitoring can help
Effective monitoring can vastly optimise the tower site’s output and save costs while protecting the asset. Let’s take a look at some of the use cases for tower monitoring:
Energy management
Cellular tower sites consume a vast amount of energy and remain a liability on the bottom line for many tower operators. Monitoring the site enables operators to manage their energy consumption to avoid ever-escalating energy bills and promote an energy-efficient site.
Asset handling and monitoring
Towers rely on an intricate set of assets that work in tandem to ensure the best connectivity output possible. However, these assets, like any other, require routine maintenance. Through effective monitoring tools, you will be able to proactively monitor the health of your tower components and perform preventive maintenance on telecommunications and supporting equipment before catastrophic failure, preventing downtime and damage.
Diesel generator monitoring
Many remote tower sites rely on fuel to run and are a common target for diesel thieves. By monitoring the fuel levels and other key parameters of the site’s supply, you will be able to measure power output and prevent pilferage by identifying abnormal fuel level changes immediately.
Security and access control
Expensive assets like broadcasting towers need to be protected from malicious intent. With proper monitoring tools, you can centralise security supervision to access, control and protect all of your cellular tower sites. This will enable you to monitor your site 24/7, authorise personnel and send out alerts on intrusions.
Protection from natural disasters
It’s not only human activity that could pose a threat to towers. Natural disasters could pose a critical threat to these remote assets resulting in damage or downtime. With effective monitoring tools, you will be able to instantly detect unfavourable environmental conditions such as floods, storms, fires, smoke and more.
The challenge of effective tower monitoring
While the advantages are clearly numerous for tower monitoring, the reality is that effective monitoring has not been easily achieved in the past.
Without reliable connectivity, these expensive and critical assets simply cannot be monitored, protected and optimised for maximum efficiency. This challenge is even more formidable when it comes to towers constructed in extremely remote and inaccessible areas with limited connectivity options.
This need for monitoring and control has become critical, yet reliable connectivity into tower assets is becoming increasingly more difficult.
This is where IoT FIRST, a satellite solution from Eutelsat comes in.
What is IoT FIRST?
IoT FIRST is Eutelsat’s all-inclusive satellite solution for effective and reliable remote tower monitoring and management. It has been designed to be a simple, cost-effective and highly reliable connectivity solution for monitoring assets no matter where they are located.
Through compact, low-power satellite terminals that are optimised for IoT and security, IoT FIRST enables bi-directional, highly reliable communications and guaranteed SLA’s anywhere, anytime. The entire service is managed from end-to-end with 24/7 customer support, advanced networking options (VLAN capabilities) and enhanced security (IPsec encryption).
Why IoT FIRST is the best solution for secure, efficient, highly-available sites
IoT FIRST is your gateway to effectively monitor tower sites by offering a reliable and secure connectivity solution. You will be able to gather data from the site through multiple sensors that act as the physical touchpoints for your site.
Energy meters, AC/DC current sensors, temperature sensors, fuel level monitors and vibration sensors are just a small fraction of what could be linked up through IoT FIRST to give you complete control over your tower sites - no matter where you are or where the site is located.
IoT FIRST has the potential to be the single connectivity solution for all of your tower assets. Perfectly suited for urban, rural or international applications, IoT FIRST is unique in its field with the ability to be rapidly deployed within 30 minutes and at a cost 3 - 10 times less than comparable satellite solutions.
With IoT FIRST and Eutelsat’s satellite connectivity solutions, you will:
Connect with us and better monetise your tower assets
Operating communications towers requires owners to host sophisticated telecom and radio equipment in secure, energy-efficient and accessible sites. In order to deliver the best possible service, solutions like IoT FIRST are necessary to run efficiently. IoT FIRST helps maximize the monetisation of your assets by reducing the operational costs and creating new revenue streams for your business.
If you would like to find out more about IoT FIRST or Eutelsat’s other satellite connectivity options for your own business, contact us today and start experiencing the difference that our solutions can have on your own operations - no matter where they are, or what the challenge is.