How to develop and retain a highly skilled workforce

TowerXchange: Please can you introduce NETIS, their size, geographic footprint and track record in the telecoms sector.

NETIS is a service and infrastructure provider for the telecom industry in Africa which was founded in 2009. With its headquarters in Abidjan, NETIS operates permanently in 7 countries namely; Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Bénin, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.  NETIS has 4,555 sites under passive and active maintenance management in five countries for the main African towercos, these being for IHS, Eaton Towers, Helios Towers and American Tower.  Our branch in Côte d’Ivoire also has a tower manufacturing facility from which we are able to supply our customers with all their monopole and other tower items.

Hundreds of sites and power solutions have been built and deployed all over the African networks and NETIS has built strong partnerships with vendors specialised in power solutions, RMS, RDUs, COWs and other areas.

TowerXchange: In our previous interview with NETIS we spoke about investment unlocked in site upgrades following transactions between MNOs and towers. With much of the emergency upgrade work being done on sites that have been acquired a few years ago, what trends do you see in order to enhance the performance of integrated sites?

The situation and the strategies vary from one towerco to the other.  Some are very keen to upgrade sites to state of the art level whilst others prefer to refurbish to a minimum acceptable level in order to just meet a functional level.

We have seen the same trend within the same tower companies, depending on the available budgets and the financial situations.  Generally speaking, there is no doubt that after handover to the towercos the general condition of the sites have remarkably improved in terms of performance. This is thanks to upgrades relating to power solutions (including hybrid systems and genset upgrades and replacement), tower refurbishment and other factors.

TowerXchange: In some countries in sub-Saharan Africa, we have seen operators starting to function more like towercos, actively pursuing co-locations. Have NETIS observed any changing trends in how well maintained and highly specified operator owned sites are?

Sean Alborough, CEO, NETIS: From what we could observe, when an operator enters into a co-location program, the commercial aspects are predominant. We do not really see a will to improve the site efficiency.

TowerXchange: To what extent can structural works be standardised across a portfolio of sites in order to control costs and increase the efficiency of works? How do NETIS balance the need to tailor works for specific locations versus standardising works to improve efficiency?

We believe that each site must be treated as an individual site. In large deployment projects, there is usually a great temptation to standardise the designs and the works  in order to minimise the costs. This often leads to mistakes which not only do not minimise costs but actually increase them beyond the set budgets. Therefore it is necessary to have a hybrid approach with standard designs being tailored to individual sites.  It might appear contradictory at first sight but it is not.  To implement this model, we look for and deploy well trained and competent staff in the field.  Staff trained to respect and strictly implement the standards but also capable of analysing every single site and deciding if it requires a particular action and/or set up.  In doing so, we aim to avoid mistakes and multiple site visits thus controlling costs.  In addition, supervision remains a key factor.

TowerXchange: Finding, training and retaining a skilled workforce has been cited as one of the biggest challenges in carrying out civil work and O&M in Sub-Saharan Africa, how does NETIS address this challenge?

Situations vary from one country to another. Some countries have more advanced education systems than others, thus internal training is not so strongly required. In these countries it is easier to find skilled personnel available and as such, these regions are less problematic. In some countries it is indeed very difficult to find experienced technicians and consequently the operation cost is higher because of the need of ongoing internal training to build in-house competence. At the same time it is necessary to have higher salaries in order to retain the staff and prevent poaching from the competition or any other industry. In parallel and in order to minimise the cost inflation it is important to have strong human resource management to create the sense of belonging and ownership towards the company. This is a long and ongoing process.

TowerXchange: Management of community relations is critical in ensuring that sites are built in a timely manner and are able to be well maintained - what experiences can NETIS share with us on this front?

One of the major challenges in the industry is managing the noise pollution, especially with sites that are in small rural villages where the grid is not reliable. NETIS has to work closely with the community to not only ensure that the site is accepted but that the site is well maintained and that generator runtime is at a minimum.  Secondly, a cell site has become an “ATM” to criminals as diesel fuel and batteries are easily accessible making them prone to theft.  Engaging with the local community in terms of having a caretaker guard responsible for the site has reduced some of the theft.  NETIS plans to set up community security forums to eradicate theft on a bigger scale.

TowerXchange: What is NETIS’ niche over some of the larger players offering managed services in the market and what differentiates it from its competitors?

NETIS has achieved a first in Ghana where a towerco has placed all its sites under the maintenance of a single partner, that partner being NETIS.  This was due to the following strategies which placed NETIS above its competitors in the region:

Structure: Operational support structures were developed which enabled the operation and maintenance staff to concentrate on their core business.

Ownership: Instilled a sense of ownership in all NETIS O&M staff by means of improving working conditions, valuing our staff and creation of a NETIS brand in all that we do.  This means the teams do more than just maintenance and it has created healthy competition between the teams.

Operational support: NETIS’ strategy in terms of support has been a priority and forward support to operations was created by developing regional offices with Logistics Officers, Administrators, SHERQ Officers and warehouses in each region.  This gives the field teams the time to concentrate on their core business (operations) whilst the support from the back office is maintained 24/7 (which is controlled by the head office)

Process driven: Processes were developed for all activities in O&M and implemented with the key of improving and maintaining operational support at all times.

Real-time reporting: All activity is reported in real time, utilising software developed and media platforms available.

Training and development: The NETIS HR department developed programs to ensure the NETIS staff are well equipped for the task and we have a working succession program.

Quality: QA officers are deployed in each region to ensure the highest quality of work is maintained during PM and CM.

Teamwork: From management to field engineers, all NETIS staff are fully involved with the company’s daily activities; SLA performance and continuous improvement in the workplace is visible.