ABLOY: Helping MNOs and towercos to achieve operational excellence

Securing telecom sites has never been more important as they are increasingly considered a part of critical national infrastructure. Network coverage and reliability of services is key in the battle for customers between network operators. In the meantime, big tower companies acquire more sites as operators want to financially secure their ability to compete. Sabotage, internal theft, vandalism and the changing shape of the infrastructure are challenges telecom site owners face in today’s world. In this interview with TowerXchange, Pauli Jormanainen, Abloy’s Regional Director for Asia Pacific, shares his views on how intelligent security solutions can help towercos and MNOs to overcome these critical challenges.

TowerXchange: Please introduce your company, your footprint and how you fit into the telecoms infrastructure ecosystem in Asia.

Abloy has decades of experience in working with different critical infrastructure segments globally, especially with telecommunications customers. We have established a position of a trusted advisor among operators, system integrators, solution providers and tower companies globally. Long experience and vast number of telecommunication customers have made Abloy not only their high security access control solutions provider of choice but a partner to telecom players to build up the most suitable solution to create value and fast pay-back.

Our product and service range is capable of securing any application, from smallest cabinets or remote site gates to large corporate headquarters. We understand that different access and locking points have their own unique security requirements and conditions that need to be met. We provide solutions that can combine electromechanical and mechanical systems, management software, installation services, training, support and future updates – everything after a thorough and professional consultation to design cost effective and efficient solutions based on the individual requirements and operational model of each customer.

Abloy is represented in over 90 countries globally and almost all countries in Asia & Pacific, from Japan to New Zealand and from Mongolia to Sri Lanka. Local distributors are supported by Abloy’s own offices from China, India and Singapore as well as naturally by our main office in Finland. As Abloy is part of ASSA ABLOY, global leader in door opening solutions, our presence is extended by ASSA ABLOY offices in Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand and beyond. 

TowerXchange: Who are your main clients? And how does the demand change between operators and towercos?

Our clients are mainly mobile network operators and tower companies but in certain markets we serve solution providers too. There is a huge demand for flexible and auditable access solutions for a variety of assets from operators and towercos requiring site efficiency and long term high security solutions. There is a growing trend for solutions integrating site and service management systems with access control systems. These types of integrations help tower companies and MNOs to better monitor the service level of their subcontractors as well as create savings with more efficient operations. 

The basic demands for solutions between the operators and tower companies are the same but the requirements are different when a single operator is occupying the site or the site is shared by multiple operators. The higher the number of MNOs on a site, the more flexible the system must be. We have seen a lot of mergers and operators selling their towers to tower companies – and we expect more sharing activities in the near future.

TowerXchange: How does the demand for security solutions differ between different countries across the region?

The top security challenges faced by our customers are unauthorised access to sites, high running costs and theft of materials or information. Vandalism poses an additional threat for clients. 

In certain countries there is a real need for security solutions. In fact, MNOs and tower companies face high expenses when rekeying or replacing locks and losses with stolen equipment and wiring. There are two types of scenarios: first, our clients need to monitor and control access to their sites and our solution gives them the ability to determine who actually has entered a site; secondly, our clients need to reinforce their existing security system. In these cases, Abloy can offer stronger locks which cannot be easily broken and we’ve also worked with cabinet manufacturers to create integrated cabinet locking solutions.

In places like Hong Kong, Macau or Singapore, we serve clients to secure their rooftop sites, where access requirements are different than in traditional telecom sites. 

TowerXchange: How do you find security issues vary between rural and urban areas? 

The security issues between the rural and urban sites differ greatly. We have realised that there is a higher degree of theft in rural areas than urban areas. Sites in rural areas are powered by diesel generators and the theft of diesel and batteries is a major headache for industry players across the world. Due to the fact that rural sites are usually outside of populated areas, anything of value (gensets, batteries, copper et cetera) is vulnerable to theft. In areas affected by theft, the demand for reinforced security systems is very high.

TowerXchange: How does your offering differ from others in the market?

We are an established global company with 110 year track record in protecting critical infrastructure. Our PROTEC² CLIQ is a proven solution with over 1,000 customer worldwide, 400,000 cylinders and 400,000 keys already delivered and in use. Over 2,000 telecom sites worldwide have been secured with our high security solutions. We are also the only company who has introduced a product progression plan. This means clients can install a mechanical solution with the intention of upgrading these products to electromechanical products in a later phase.PROTEC² CLIQ is the only product in the market where one solution combines the benefits of electromechanical and mechanical solutions – providing double security. The CLIQ CONNECT feature on keys provides flexible access rights and logs event data of attempted openings at any situation, whether you are working at an online or offline location. As extra level of security, we have the ABLOY PROTEC² mechanical platform backup to electronic key controlling system. So if ever your electronic system is compromised your assets remain secure with the mechanical platform backup. Our extensive product range provides complete solutions from padlocks and cylinders to door closers and electric locks to secure and protect our clients’ any facilities, infrastructure and assets. Access management administration systems are available from our trusted cloud service providers or customers can choose to internally host all related systems. Access management can be performed and data utilised also in third party systems with the help of software integration. Our professional network of distributors and sales offices is there to make sure our customers get the best possible experience and value with our solutions. We are also proud to say our products are made in Finland, where ABLOY brand is recognised as the most valuable brand in 2018.