Telecom site security and site accessibility remains a major hurdle for successfully managing and maintaining telecom sites and equipment with a 99.98% benchmark uptime.

Security is one of the biggest challenges in managing a network of sites for a telecom operator. “Close to 180 battery banks were either tampered or stolen in the last 6 months,” says one telecom operator in Uganda. Tampering or theft of critical power equipment will power down the site and affect the revenue generation potential of the site, due to forgone revenue during the period of down time.

Additionally, the more remote sites present an accessibility challenge which adds to the delays in response and affects the site uptime Service Level Agreements for the Operations and Maintenance (O&M) operators.

Often, the response to site security and accessibility is reactive rather than proactive. Preventive and proactive measures to address these challenges would require fool proof processes in addition to the systems and technology. Proven remote monitoring systems supported by innovative O&M processes would enable operators and tower companies to actively monitor site security and control access to the site.

However, a site’s field staff is also an important consideration. As a risk advisory and security expert of one of the major tower companies in East Africa explains, “Proven technology and processes would be of less use without a proper vetting of the field staff hired by the O&M sub-contractor.”

For more information about theft at telecom sites, view the Bi-Annual Report from December 2011.