Orissa Wicomm: telecom infrastructure project implement experts

Achieving operational excellence depends upon effective project implementation. Orissa Wicomm are among a select group of consulting, installation and commissioning firms with a proven track record of serving as implementation partners of MNOs and towercos. The firm came to TowerXchange’s attention thanks to their impressively swift and successful implementation of RMS and access control solutions for edotco – we learn more about that project, their aspirations as a licensed network facilities provider in Malaysia, and their experiences in The Philippines in this exclusive interview with CEO Nallen Singhe.

TowerXchange: Please introduce yourself and your company.

I’ve been in the telecommunications industry since 1993, originally with operator Maxis, then with energy equipment provider Eltek. In between I was also COO at a broadband operator in the Philippines.

I started Orissa Wicomm in 2011 initially with a focus on renewable and industrial power, but we were drawn back into telecommunications, for whom we provide lightning protection, DC power, cooling, RMS, batteries, fuel cells, solar, COWs et cetera – we’re focused on the infrastructure side of the business.

Orissa Wicomm represents several leading suppliers in the region, including Hitachi, Ellego, Ballard, Envicool, Invendis, Acsys, Ying Li and Narada.

TowerXchange: Please tell us about your recent project to deploy RMS and access control solutions for edotco.

We were trying to sell batteries and power systems to edotco, but were asked to participate in an RFP to integrate two key technologies with their ECHO monitoring centre in Kuala Lumpur: remote monitoring and access control systems. The RFP went to 16 vendors, and we won the tender.

We tested three different equipment providers, of which Invendis were the stand-out choice; the sensors were easy to connect to each other, and calibration was easy. Invendis were selected as the RMS supplier, and they introduced Acsys for access control.

We did a 15 site proof of concept in each country before the main rollout. This enabled us to train the engineering, operations and management teams, and to quality check the fuel, battery and temperature monitoring sensors.

The first PO was for 3,000 sites, and I remember Invendis initially thought we could rollout maybe 500 per year – we deployed at a spectacular rate, installing solutions at 5,200 sites in 14 months across Bangladesh, Malaysia and Sri Lanka! Invendis now has capacity to supply 3-4,000 new sites per quarter in this region.

TowerXchange: What were the critical success factors behind the implementation of RMS and access control systems for edotco?

edotco were very open about the process and the budget; they gave us plenty of leeway and treated us like part of the company not just as a supplier.

Another critical success factor was our experience on the ground in the region. We didn’t reinvent the wheel, we used existing networks and local partners in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Malaysia who know how to deploy, and who know the stakeholders at the MNOs. They also knew the local “lords” who can restrict access if you don’t manage the relationships carefully.

TowerXchange: A common challenge when rolling out RMS and access control solutions, which are in part designed to combat fuel and equipment theft, is that much of that theft originates within the supply chain, which can result in would-be thieves trying to discredit or vandalise the systems – what has been your experience with these issues?

We anticipated more problems with this than we actually encountered.

Because our proofs of concept had demonstrated to edotco management that the solution worked, their eyes were open if people claimed the system didn’t work because they didn’t want fuel consumption to be watched.

We also laid many cables underground in steel pipes, and as a result have had no cable cuts to date.

Fuel theft has been dramatically reduced, and there have been fewer battery thefts in the last year. Thanks to the Acsys mechatronic lock system, an internal thief would have to use their own key to enter the site and steal fuel or equipment and we’d know it was them.

TowerXchange: What’s next for your RMS and access control project?

The total contract was for 12,000 sites in four countries; next year we’re hoping to rollout in Cambodia, plus more sites in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Now we have developed and proven our expertise in deploying RMS, we’re promoting the solution to other operators in Malaysia and The Philippines.

TowerXchange: We understand Orissa Wicomm is interested in building and leasing your own towers – what can you tell us about that?

A couple of months ago we were awarded a Network Facilities Provider (NFP) license in Malaysia.

We needed to demonstrate to the Multimedia and Telecom Ministry how we were going to add value to Malaysia’s telecom infrastructure – in particular we needed to have a unique land bank of prospective sites to offer. There are Hindus, Christians and Muslims in Malaysia, and each has a substantial number of places of worship. We were able to sign up a deal with an authority which controls 2,700 Hindu temple compounds, many with a lot of land in strategic places. The deal has a revenue sharing component that facilitates investment in community activities.

We want to compliment, not compete with, our friends at edotco. So we are working closely with edotco to map this land bank against their own sites, and work together to offer them to operators. We will retain a proportion of the sites ourselves as we had to make a commitment to the Ministry to build a certain number of towers per year. We hope to have our first towers up by Q1 2017.

Whether or not the telcos ask for them, I will put in Invendis and Acsys solutions onto my towers at my own cost – I want intelligent towers, enabling us to show operators it’s easy to monitor their towers, and I don’t want my field engineers to drive hundreds of kilometers just to get a key!

Orissa Wicomm also wants to be the go-to-guys to provide green power because we understand the unique requirements of these sites. If you need to build a site off grid we can design and build sites with the latest fuel cells, solar hybrid and/or lithium ion batteries, all at competitive prices because we deal directly with manufacturers – in some cases because we represent them directly.

TowerXchange: What have been your impressions of the towerco segment in Malaysia?

There are around 150 NFP license holders and 20 are active. While all the NFP licenses are nationwide, most are held by State backed towercos who remain focused on a single State. The State backed towercos have a close relationship with the stakeholders who control site permitting and approvals, giving them near-monopoly status within some States. However some (not all!) of them don’t have the funds and can be slow to rollout. The MNOs sometimes get impatient to rollout, and are reluctant to meet high rental costs – lease rates are fairly uniform in Malaysia.

In addition to the State backed towercos there are a handful of independent towercos, the most active today of which are edotco, OCK and Premium Radius… And soon Orissa Wicomm!

TowerXchange: I understand you personally have considerable experience in The Philippines, and that Orissa Wicomm has an office in the country. What can you tell us about the tower network in The Philippines?

Globe has around 7,300 towers in The Philippines and Smart around 9,000.

There are currently no towercos in The Philippines. We had enquired whether either company might be interested to share their towers, but at the moment there seems to be no real push to form a towerco or to sell to the towercos. Both MNOs are serving over 50mn subscribers, and have healthy balance sheets and thus no financial impetus to sell their towers. However, they are still extending coverage, building new towers yearly, and we’re helping with a major network modernisation programme, for example installing a lot of lithium ion batteries and LPS at key sites.

However the operational cost of running a tower network in The Philippines is phenomenal. Sometimes we have to catch a plane, then a boat then take a donkey up a mountain to install lightning protection systems or lithium batteries at a remote tower! We think remote monitoring and access control systems could be valuable tools in such an environment.