To say that the telecommunications industry is competitive is an understatement. The telecom companies have been fighting a battle for customers over the last 25 years that rivals the airline industry. The increasing expectations of customers of higher levels of capacity, wider areas of coverage, faster download speeds and cheaper monthly prices have driven the telecom giants to make attempts to shave costs nearly everywhere. In today’s environment, they need to produce more satisfaction from customers using less machinery and more technology support than ever before, and this is no easy task. As performance demands from the public increase, so do the costs of the technologically advanced equipment necessary to the process. Equipment that becomes outdated is being replaced by equipment that now costs hundreds of millions, and telecom companies have no choice but to invest in order to stay competitive. If you are not offering the latest “data-hungry” options to your customers, as well as nearly instantaneous download speeds and uninterrupted coverage, they will simply move over to the nearest competitor who will give it to them. Customers within the cellular space are only as loyal to their company as their latest billing cycle.
Because of these increasing demands for performance, most companies are exploring the options at their disposal to reduce the costs associated with ongoing operation, essentially trying to get the maximum performance from every bit of equipment involved. The technical components involved in the process have increased in cost as the levels of performance have increased, and the increased costs of daily operations increases as this occurs. For this reason, cellular operators must find new ways of driving operational costs down or be forced to increase monthly prices, which always have a negative effect on the customer base. For these reasons, most telecom companies are seeking methods of increasing the expected life span of the equipment involved as a way of driving total costs over time down. This gives companies the ability to offer increased levels of service for the same monthly prices.
The most common way of extending equipment life span is to integrate improved devices that will extend equipment lifetimes and prevent common forms of damage. Within the cellular system, one of the most common forms of equipment that is susceptible to damage in the field are the base station equipment and the remote radio heads. These components are the primary equipment used to receive and send signals to individual cell devices, are positioned at the top and bottom of a cell tower and are constantly in contact with one another. The physical makeup of a cell tower makes it a primary target for lighting strikes, and the damage that occurs at the strike point must be isolated in order to minimize damage and the associated costs. Because the lightning surge can travel from the remote radio head to the base station unit via the connection cables, improved surge protection devices designed specifically for telecom systems installed throughout the structures and along these lines can and do prevent surge damage. Improved surge protection devices give cellular operators the ability to reduce expected damage costs over time, and remain competitive.
