The sustainable future of communications depends on participation

The resilience and resilience of the sector is essential to ensure the digital transformation that European authorities see as key to economic recovery and well-being. But there are many challenges drawn in this horizon: growth in data use, deployment of current technologies and those yet to come, and relentless innovation that requires a huge amount of investment. Infrastructure sharing, guaranteed by a neutral and independent operator, can help meet the challenge.

In the past decade, many telcos have freed up cash and operating and maintenance costs by ceding ownership of passive infrastructures to dedicated managers in order to make new investments for the benefit of their customers. and Cellnex which were on the market with a neutral trigger model, Today it leads the management of passive telecommunications infrastructures in Europe with 135,000 sites. Now, with his experience, he can close the loop by managing the assets adjacent to these towers for his clients, the mobile operators.

At the recent Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, ​​one of the stands that attracted the most attention was the Cellnex stand, featuring 3D 3D rendering Communication tower with different common elements and with active equipment and antennas belonging to each company and which are updated according to the development of technologies (eg 5G). The hologram physically greeted the visitor into the tower and showed them that all of these elements could be shared through Cellnex itself and its commitment to the “Enhanced Tower” model that ensures competition, sustainability and efficiency.

Cellnex has developed its towers, the base camp of its model, with optimal integration of sites into the environment, and modular systems that facilitate access, maintenance or material improvements. Its solutions are easily scalable and equipped to adapt to new technologies and capacity required by different operators with solutions that can be shared with guarantees provided by a neutral manager.

“Investment needs and pressure on the margins of telecom companies still exist. There is a clear opportunity around the development, deployment, operation and maintenance of those infrastructures and assets adjacent to the towers that can be clustered on a ‘host-neutral’ model that favors cost reduction, improved efficiency and enhanced sustainability,” explains Cellnex’s Director of Technology, Mirko Massey. “To assist our customers with their new network deployments, Cellnex is evolving its traditional model towards a Shared assets model More sustainable as wireless equipment (called active equipment), traditionally operated by mobile operators, can also be shared, reducing deployment, energy and environmental costs,” he explains.

Integrated service

Cellnex has been working throughout the value chain for quite some time to provide comprehensive customer service. Its towers are outfitted with fiber optics and small data centers turn them into data processing centers at the edge of the network (known as “edge computing”) to improve service. “Fiber optics allow us to ensure that our customers have the capacity they need to meet the demand for data, which is growing at a very high rate in all markets,” explains Massey. Deploying these networks is expensive and requires a minimum payout that would be affordable if all the equipment could be shared. One of the reasons for the digital divide in rural areas that Europe wants to solve is precisely the difficult balance between cost and benefit for a single operator.

“The ‘neutral host’ role in managing active equipment could become a trend. We speak to many of our clients and are looking for different opportunities in Europe based on different assumptions. National models can be implemented, but also at a regional level or in a specific region of the country,” says Massi.

The data confirms the benefits of this model: a recent E&Y report ensures that independent “Towercos” facilitate the development of new networks and calculates that between 2019 and 2029 they can save 31,000 million On this post, which would be 40% more efficient if executed by a neutral player. The emergence of companies such as Cellnex has allowed traditional operators to release 3,500 million investments for other purposes.

But the rationality and sustainability of the model is also ensured by the necessary environmental efficiency. It is estimated that the duplication that the independent managers evade in building new sites will result in the avoidance of nearly 4 million tons of carbon dioxide in the developments needed for the towers through 2030.