Bharti Infratel Selects IBM For Smarter Cell Towers

Bharti Infratel, a subsidiary of Bharti airtel, has selected IBM to provide Intelligent Site Operations to more than 32,000 Bharti Infratel tower-sites spread across 11 telecom circles in India, which include some of the toughest terrain and remote locations in the world.

By combining sensors, data tracking and analytics, IBM’s Intelligent Site Operations offering provides Bharti Infratel real-time visibility and insight to centrally monitor and manage their large and distributed tower infrastructure along with centrally orchestrating and tracking operations.

The IBM Intelligent Site Operations collects data on the state of each cell tower such as energy consumption (including supply from the mains, generators and battery), fuel consumption and alarms. This data is then fed to a monitoring system which analyses it and converts data into actionable intelligence in real-time so that staff can make better business decisions. The system receives more than 600,000 events a day which are reduced to less than 1-2 tickets per day per site by applying intelligence to determine which events require immediate attention.

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“The IBM solution has helped us automate the entire process and is helping in reducing costs and driving optimisation besides proactively preventing service outages,” said Prashant Veer Singh, Chief Information Officer, Bharti Infratel. “We have had a long and successful partnership with IBM over the last several years and we are confident that with IBM’s domain knowledge and technological expertise, we will continue to innovate and excel.”

Advanced business analytics software helps to identify opportunities for greater efficiency. For example if outdoor temperatures drop, sites can be cooled by outside air to reduce energy consumption or rely on solar energy for power. Fuel levels in generators can be monitored to prevent theft and repairs can be made at the first sign of a problem to improve the life-span of equipment while cutting maintenance costs.

“The green IBM Intelligent Site Operations solution for Bharti Infratel is widely recognised as a first of a kind solution for this industry, which enables Bharti Infratel and IBM to partner further and uncover more such opportunities around assets and processes of even greater environmental value,” said R. P. Singh, Director, IBM-Bharti Enterprises partnership, Global Technology Services, IBM India/South Asia. “It is a classic example of Bharti Airtel’s and IBM’s joint innovation and thought leadership in providing solutions that achieve substantial environmental benefits while at the same time providing business benefits.”