Broadnet Telecom provides remote monitoring and management solutions for telecom towers in Africa. Their system includes software that integrates data from devices at sites and presents it through dashboards and reports at network operations centers. This allows issues to be preemptively identified and network uptime to be maximized. Broadnet focuses their solution on intelligent management of rectifiers, batteries, and generators for effective power management. They aim to simplify deployment and reduce costs compared to competitors by designing their system based on African market needs and challenges.

1. How to measure
what matters
Broadnet on the integration of RMS alarms into the NOC, and the
importance of IPMS
Andy Richardson, VP Sales, Broadnet Telecom
TowerXchange: What’s your footprint in Africa,
and who are your target clients?
Andy Richardson, VP Sales, Broadnet Telecom:
We are active today in sub-Saharan Africa. For
the last eighteen months we’ve been working
with a number of Africa’s leading operators to
prove our technology proposition. We are under
NDA, therefore, the specifics are somewhat
guarded, although we’re very close to securing two
significant opportunities.
Broadnet’s solution is designed by Africans for the
African market, at a price point that makes it very
appealing. Two thirds of our R&D team are from
Cameroon, Egypt, Algeria, Nigeria and South Africa.
These individuals offer the best possible insight into
the needs of the African continent. The reality is
that we understand better than most the challenges
of operating wireless solutions in the emerging
markets. Therefore, we have taken a different
approach: one we will teach the client how to make
the solution work in challenging environments, two
we will give some ideas of how they can mine the
“big data” and present the analytics in a meaningful
manner and three we enable the client to be more
efficient.
Our solution has been designed for the co-location
/ tower operator market. We have been very
deliberate in the way we have engineered our
SiteOSS solution.
Many African MNOs and tower operators have
or will be acquiring intelligent solutions to more
Read this article to learn:
< How smart, SNMP enabled devices significantly reduce installation costs
< How RMS data is integrated with “manager of manager” platforms
< Mining “big data” to present meaningful analytics and support efficient resource utilisation
< The importance of keeping RMS simple and focusing on IPMS
Broadnet Telecom fit at the centre of everything that a tower
operator would need from a site management vendor. Broadnet
provides passive infrastructure and remote management,
monitoring and control, enabling: hybrid power management,
smart metering (kWh utilisation) and billing validation,
verification of fuel usage, workforce automation, and SLA
management linked to trouble ticketing module thereby allowing
tower owners to manage their subcontractors and link their
performance directly to SLAs. Andy Richardson a veteran of the
African Telecoms Industry. Well known as a WiMAX pioneer
and more recently the architect of Kentrox’s success in the tower
market, he’s now spear-heading Broadnet Telecom’s foray into
Africa.
Keywords: Who’s Who, Monitoring and Management,
Installation, NOC, RMS, Rectifiers, Site Management
System, Asset Lifecycle Platform, Job Ticketing, Spare Parts,
Infrastructure Sharing, Africa, Broadnet Telecom
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 3 | XX| TowerXchange Issue 3 | www.towerxchange.comXX

2. efficiently manage their remote infrastructure
assets, motivated by the desire for increased
productivity and containment of costs, which is
impacted by: covering large distances with under-
developed road networks, seasonal weather,
crime, low policing, escalating fuel costs, and
intermittent RF propagation and coverage all
throwing up significant challenges which permit
remote management, monitoring and control to add
significant and tangible value.
TowerXchange: How do you configure an RMS
system to overcome those African challenges,
and to meet the differing needs of each site?
Andy Richardson, VP Sales, Broadnet Telecom:
There are three critical components: SiteOSS
software, the remote unit and the people.
In many of the locations where legacy devices are
installed, it’s vital to have a controller that can hook
up serial and analogue devices, send information
to the NOC, and present it in a meaningful though
simple graphical format allowing management to
make informed decisions that maximise network
uptime by pre-emptively determining where there
may be a potential issue.
If the site devices are intelligent SNMP enabled
units then there’s minimum configuration required,
thus, reducing the installation time. The biggest cost
is often getting to the site.
For those sites needing to wire up lots of third party
equipment our product has a considerable amount
of smart functionality built into the installation
process, without compromising quality, which
means we don’t need to rely on highly qualified
engineers.
As many have discovered maintaining network
uptime is a huge challenge in Africa, regardless
of whether the site is on-grid, off-grid or on an
unreliable grid that might only be available for
limited periods. Bandwidth limitations can make
troubleshooting extremely difficult and in some
cases undermine the value proposition, so pushing
opex off the scale, even though raw materials
and labour maybe cheaper. However, we have
completed major advancements in our solution that
have made remote management, monitoring and
control more efficient and effective.
TowerXchange: Tell us about the communication
between devices at sites and the NOC.
Andy Richardson, VP Sales, Broadnet Telecom:
In essence, the site controller gathers and
stores information from each monitored asset,
communicating back to the NOC at intervals pre-
determined by the client – whilst being sensitive to
the critical market conditions. Communication can
be by Ethernet, GPRS, SMS or GSM.
TowerXchange: Tell how RMS data is integrated
into the different software systems at the NOC.
Andy Richardson, VP Sales, Broadnet Telecom: At
the NOC we’ll feed data into SiteOSS software, which
can communicate through an integration layer with
a “manager of managers” system, such as NetBoss,
NetCracker, Netcool or Openview. For example,
we have our system which monitors a number of
different devices, performs thresholding and finally
generates alerts or alarms which are forwarded to
the next level of the management system, which
then takes those alerts or alarms, aggregates them
further to send a more concise status report up to
the next level. The integration layer or “northbound
interface” is simply an interface over which the
system can generate or report its output “north” to
the next layer, typically a “manager of managers”
platform.
TowerXchange: How do you present the RMS
data to allow management to derive actionable
analytics?
Andy Richardson, VP Sales, Broadnet Telecom: The
system interface presents data either as statistical
figures, or graphical representation options such
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 3 | XX| TowerXchange Issue 3 | www.towerxchange.comXX
“ “maintaining network uptime is a
huge challenge in Africa, regardless
of whether the site is on-grid, off-
grid or on an unreliable grid that
might only be available for limited
periods

3. as line charts, bar charts and pie charts. For tower
operators with a large portfolio of sites with
differing levels of sophistication and multiple
tenants, capturing site information in nearer real
time using a fully integrated asset registry will
ensure efficient resource utilisation.
TowerXchange: What differentiates Broadnet’s
solutions from your competitors?
Andy Richardson, VP Sales, Broadnet Telecom:
Broadnet Telecom is an RF company. The company
heritage dates back to Harris Farion; RF engineering
and manufacturing. We fulfill a lot of work for
leading Microwave OEM’s, and that gives us an
advantage in understanding RF communications
and in maintaining wireless connectivity. We bring
together hardware, software, connectivity and
machines.
Furthermore, we consider our core competencies
as absolutely vital to the co-location providers
achieving their immediate business objectives and
maintaining their long term competitiveness. So,
whether that’s a services organisation to accomplish
backhaul dimensioning, network optimisation,
network design, engineering services; or they
need operation and maintenance activities such
as asset management, reverse logistics, remote
site management, hybrid power management
and utility verification or back-office trouble
ticketing and work force automation, we are one
of a few companies who can make all this happen.
Combining hardware, software and wireless
services in a unique business model that appeals to
the operators we’re speaking to in Africa.
The convergence of the tower operators in
Africa, the advancements in remote management
technology and the change of customer business
models, provides us with an opportunity to
demonstrate our differentiated service delivery
capabilities with integrated tools and processes that
enable operational productivity and transparency.
In my opinion, RMS should focus on three critical
aspects; intelligent rectifiers, batteries and
generators, categorised as an Integrated Power
Management Solution (IPMS). If you can cost
effectively crack IPMS you’ll have solved the secret
to long-term success in passive infrastructure
management. Everything else is noise
www.towerxchange.com | TowerXchange Issue 3 | XX| TowerXchange Issue 3 | www.towerxchange.comXX
“ “RMS should focus on three critical
aspects; intelligent rectifiers,
batteries and generators, categorised
as an Integrated Power Management
Solution (IPMS).... Everything else is
noise
Monitoring & management system architecture
User Groups
Users Interface - Dashboard - Reports
Asset Lifestyle
Management
Worforce
Management
Trouble
Ticketing
Mgmt
Preventive
Maintainance
Fault &
Performance
Monitoring
Energy
Management
Security/
Surveillance
Polling Engine
Bandwidth
Management
Routing Engine
NOC Platform
Controller
Remote Site SNMP
Devices
SET
Applications
Processes
GET
Rules and
Thresholds
Scripting Engine