Between the end of 2015 and the beginning of 2016, the three MNOs in China transferred approximately 1.5mn towers to China Tower Corporation (CTC). Since then, new build volumes have been significant, with 1.7-1.8mn towers in total expected by the end of the 2016. In order to effectively oversee and manage its massive portfolio of towers, CTC has introduced different ways to streamline its operations and lower costs. With the unofficial objective to become a poster child for successful State-owned enterprise reform – in being more “energised and efficient” – CTC so far has risen to the challenge.
Tower and shelter design
CTC acknowledged that in general towers and shelters of the past were considered eyesores, without much thought put in them. During the era when operators built their own towers, with the rush to coverage, there was very little in the way of standardisation and beautification of the structures.
Since taking over, and with feedback from local governments, CTC wanted to introduce designs that could better blend in with the various cultural and physical needs of millions of different sites across the country, whether urban or rural. CTC also hopes its beautification efforts will raise the general public’s acceptance and satisfaction with telecom sites.
CTC has standardised tower designs, reportedly from 1,000 down to 155 (each design at different heights would represent one).
For example, the “Urban Flower” sits at 25m, can be integrated with lighting for the city, and incorporate CTC’s logo and branding. It also has a 40m tower with LED lights at the top that is ideal for stadiums and large public spaces, and with the presence to be a landmark structure. CTC also uses a more simple and sleek multi-purpose tower that is to be integrated with street lighting, sensors, data, and analysis.
Tower heights in general have also been lowered, in anticipation of future 5G coverage needs.
Similarly, CTC also has a series of shelters designed to not only fulfill function, but with the aesthetics to better blend in with the site surroundings.
Construction modeling
Tower standardisation is not just about creating a uniform and consistent appearance; it serves more practical and beneficial purposes.
When it comes to the creation of a tower, CTC staff would start with a base (pole) then choose from a menu of parts to add on, taking in mind the functionality, environmental needs and the surroundings of where the tower will go. This mix-and-match approach, enabled by standardised tower designs, allows CTC to lower costs and erect towers more quickly.
“The tower body, along with other building blocks, offer flexible and diversified product construction, improve production, and construction efficiency,” said Dong Xiao Zhuang, CTC vice president in September at P/T Expo. (Original quote in Chinese; translated by TowerXchange and edited for clarity).
Through standardisation of shelter designs (4mx5m), CTC promoted prefabricated assembly to the industry, thereby driving industrial production and ensuring product quality. The new design also significantly decreases installation time, while the structure can be taken down and reused.
This modeling of tower and required parts is linked to CTC’s online procurement platform, allowing a streamlined way to generate tower design, cost estimates, and lists of material and service requirements.
China Tower Corporation tower and shelter designs
Construction standardisation and documentation
Understandably, with such high build requests and urgency, CTC took measures to ensure consistency in process and thereby results. It standardised both construction process and technology, with an accompanying engineering quality handbook.
Once a tower has been designed, the system generates and tracks a simple chart outlining the components of the project, say, manual digging of the foundation, or tower, or power input. Photo documentations of the various project pieces are also logged in the system.
Given the difficulty CTC had in assessing the true number of towers, their quality, and associated critical information during the asset transfer process with the three operators, it is perhaps not surprising that CTC took a fairly detailed data capture approach with respect to tower construction.
Centralised remote monitoring
Through remote monitoring systems, or what CTC refers to as field survey units (FSU), the towerco is able to monitor and capture data on a tower and site through a centralised command platform, where alerts are issued and task orders activated accordingly.
Data capture through the command centre includes things such as generator, battery, power switching, power costs, air conditioning, temperature, humidity, smoke, entry access, et cetera.
Fault response
With 24/7 monitoring, CTC is able to effectively and efficiently respond to issues as they come up.
How it works: the command centre at headquarters in Beijing receives a warning message from a tower in a certain city. This then triggers a mobile message to the personnel assigned to the cluster. The alert would specify the tower number/ID, type of warning, and request an immediate site visit. Upon completion, the system would then capture the reason for the fault, maintenance method, completion date and time, maintenance personnel, and their contact information.
Inspection
Routine inspection is also clearly charted within the system, with the date, inspection personnel and tower number/ID feeding back to the maintenance centre.
A full inspection is tracked at various points, from entry access, to power meter data, to cabinet/equipment inspection, and ending with the physical tower appearance.
Power connectivity and generation
While China has one of the most reliable electricity grids in the world, with very insignificant downtime, CTC still has a robust process for power management.
Any power outage at the site would trigger an alarm and task order to dispatch maintenance personnel. During this time, staff at the provincial maintenance centre would be able to see the average travel distance to the site, as well back-up battery data including capacity, immediate load current, useful life of battery, and historical discharge duration.
Once power is restored, the maintenance personnel would also transmit site data back to command centre, with a “power generation” checklist that confirms:
1. Time of external power outage
2. Time of external power restored
3. Generator type
4. Battery capacity time
5. Time of back up power generation
6. Time of back up power stoppage
7. Generator fuel consumption
There is distributed renewal energy in China as CTC reported having 10,177 solar and wind generation sites across the country, with annual capacity of 120mn kwH. This was as of September 2016.
Dollars and cents
At the end of the day, operational efficiency will be a key factor in CTC’s financial performance, given its lease rate pricing formula is calibrated relatively in favour of the MNOs compared to global peers. In its bid to IPO by the end of 2017, CTC will no doubt need to maintain its efforts in leveraging standardised tower design, construction, and processes, along with its online procurement platform, to build quickly and cost-effectively. On the daily operational and maintenance side, the centralised command centre as well as data collection and analysis should provide even greater value in the future.
Solar integration across China
There is also news that CTC has plans to deploy solar on a large scale in line with the government’s objectives in reducing carbon emissions.
