PhilTower & PowerX partnership saves USD $1 million annually

PhilTower, the tower company in the Philippines, in collaboration with PowerX, a data intelligence platform for optimising tower energy infrastructure, has announced significant results from their year-long strategic partnership.

The collaboration, which began in late 2023, extended its scope from 1,350 sites to 3,500 sites, resulting in substantial savings and increased operational efficiency for PhilTower.

The initiative has led to the identification and elimination of diesel generators at 50% of PhilTower's locations, favouring battery backup systems instead. This transition has resulted in operational expenditure savings of nearly USD $500,000 and a reduction in annual CO2 emissions by over 700 tons.

The partnership also enabled reduced maintenance costs, a 30% decrease in Mean Time to Repair (MTTR), and an increase in network availability to 99.98%. This improvement has enhanced telecommunications customer data usage and revenue while saving an additional USD $500,000 annually in fuel costs.

Additionally, PhilTower has committed USD $2.8 million to battery replacements and upgrades, aiming to optimise backup capabilities and right-size capital expenditure. Automating reporting and decision-making processes has reduced operational workloads and improved alarm and trouble ticket management through closed-loop workflows, minimising the need for human intervention.

In his statement, Devid Gubiani, CEO at PhilTower, commented, “Applying data science tools and optimisations to over a thousand sites within half a year is a significant milestone for PhilTower. Our commitment to digitalisation has transformed our network, enabling rapid sale and leaseback transitioning, full remote asset visibility, efficient operations, and data-driven decisions that optimise CapEx and OpEx - passing those savings to our customers while increasing uptime by three hours per site per month.”

Gubiani further highlighted the ongoing efforts in maximising asset leverage and driving revenue growth, stating, “We now have the tools to maximise asset leverage and drive revenue, creating a 21st-century tower network with next-generation maintenance and proactive energy efficiency plans. With PowerX, we optimise our distributed assets using a range of KPIs and have set ambitious targets to deliver substantial growth and value to our stakeholders, including unparalleled service to our mobile operators and ambitious carbon reduction initiatives.”

The companies plan to continue their modernisation efforts with initiatives that include hybrid power installations, solar energy integration, cooling optimisations, and power system consolidations. Utilizing critical insights into network health status and energy growth projections, PhilTower expects to save over USD $1.5 million and reduce CO2 emissions by nearly 10,000 tons annually. These efforts align with PhilTower’s commitment to sustainable, efficient, and cost-effective operations.

The expected merger with Miescor Infrastructure Development Corporation (MIDC) will expand the scope of these initiatives to an additional 2,000 towers, optimizing a total of 3,500 towers across the region.

Andrew Schafer, CEO at PowerX, remarked on the collaboration’s success, “We are delighted that PhilTower is seeing immediate and strategic benefits from the data-driven optimisations and automation provided by the PowerX platform."

"This collaboration highlights our pioneering role in leveraging deep data analytics, AI, and machine learning to deliver outstanding network efficiency. The PowerX platform has empowered PhilTower's teams to drive operational excellence, enhancing asset and energy performance and integrating data intelligence for future energy programs. Together, we are raising the bar, setting a new standard for network intelligence and site efficiency in the Philippines.”

The partnership between PhilTower and PowerX underscores a significant step toward enhancing energy efficiency and operational excellence in the telecommunications infrastructure sector. Both companies anticipate ongoing benefits from their collaborative efforts, reinforcing their roles as innovators in the industry.