GIS: A Game Changer For Telecom Providers

GIS can be used to great success in the telecommunications industry, including designing and applying efficient infrastructure to power 5G. Throughout the stages of development, GIS makes each step easier.

Every part of a telecom’s business involves location. All the vital information and key data points, including customer information, network ownership, weather forecasts, and competitor information, are often managed in separate systems. Using maps and location is often the most intuitive way to gain real operational awareness about where things are happening and how certain user and network behaviors relate to each other.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) bring that information together. This creates one central location for anyone in the organization to use, make and share maps based on their identity and job role. A GIS includes multiple aspects, including:

Maps: Maps act as the interchangeable geographic layers of the system. They allow users to engage within the framework you set and giving you the ability to incorporate data layering and analytics. The ability to see your data on a map can give you a better idea of what users are doing in distinct locations and how they interact with each other and your product offerings.

Data: The data points collected can include images of locations worldwide, boundaries and routes through an area, user demographics within a geographic location, the urban infrastructure within a city, and how residents move around the site.

Apps: These are the lenses through which maps and data are viewed and interrogated. There are many different jobs and roles within a telecom organization, so a Complete GIS comes with a wide variety of apps to help staff make the right decision. GIS sees multiple pieces of data by leveraging what they have in common: where they happen.

Service providers can analyze numerous data points to see more extensive insights on behavior patterns, such as:

• The places consumers travel and how often.
• Which forms of transit become congested, leading to customers overloading the network.
• And most importantly, which apps they use how often.

But the usefulness of GIS data goes far beyond telecom operations. Innovative professionals use these insights to power changes that serve the greater good worldwide. Depending on the industry and desired application, GIS data can map the spread of infectious diseases, such as COVID-19, and help local hospitals to create a treatment plan.

Users can observe the changes to a particular environmental system to see if it needs to be preserved or monitor severe weather events’ real-time progress to keep people informed and safe. A complete Geographic Information System (GIS) consists of:

• A System of Records to maintain accurate network assets records.
• A System of Engagement to securely share maps with authorized users.
• A System of Insight to perform analysis and put data to work.
• Configurable, lightweight apps to view, question, or collect information.
• A built-in library of demographic, socioeconomic, and environmental data sets. While many networks have these pieces, many providers keep them separate. They fail to combine the information, so a deeper level of insights is never reached. Having one complete system is a better way to contain data and extract insights. It’s also the best way to start incorporating automation and workflows into the business. This makes progress much faster than when tasks are done manually.

How GIS Helps Telecommunications Providers Grow and Expand Rapidly

GIS can be used to great success in the telecommunications industry, including designing and applying efficient infrastructure to power 5G. Throughout the stages of development, GIS makes each step easier. For Jio, a rapidly growing telecom in India, GIS has helped them grow to become the nation’s largest 5G mobile network provider. The use of workflows and automation has made the company a household name in under five years. Starting with a standard map of the region, Jio uses the technology to layer in the number of anticipated users that will use the 5G network, the number of towers needed, and the supporting infrastructure for each building. GIS allows decision-makers at Jio to create models of each phase and coordinate the construction to make them a reality. From scheduling deliveries in remote locations to delivering maps for workers to reach the site, GIS makes the process easier. Jio uses GIS in every part of their effort, from building the 5G infrastructure to providing leading customer service for existing clients. After the research and development to expand network coverage, different departments use GIS to market and deploy the network. Jio’s marketing team uses the data to analyze consumer habits and demographics and then create marketing campaigns that target them. Salespeople can target areas within the network’s service area to offer special incentives or an increased marketing push. GIS can help door-to-door salespeople by providing them smart maps of leads to visit. The insights provided by GIS can increase customer satisfaction by providing a smoother experience that keeps the customer informed and anticipates their needs.

What GIS Provides to Telecommunication Companies

It’s surprising how many networks begin operations without looking at geospatial locations. With the addition of this information, new answers to long-standing problems can become apparent. GIS can help companies see insights that result in smoother operations and cost savings. The geographical analysis allows companies to see what may not be evident on paper.

Submarine Telecoms (SubTel) Forum faced a long-term issue with trying to collect and share data. Ninety-eight percent of the world’s internet runs on submarine fiber-optic cables. Initially, a freely available mapping tool seemed impossible to find. SubTel Forum needed a mapping system that could include submarine cable data from various sources and transfer it into a format that people can easily use worldwide. The nature of this complex data made it harder to find a solution. The database needed to track almost 500 current and planned cable systems across the world. Being able to access this data has helped them find new, multidimensional insights. Standardizing the data included has made it easier to collect and enter further information into the growing database.

As many enterprises have discovered, using GIS to increase data collection and meaningful analysis of these points opens up new possibilities. The benefits of GIS can include:

• Using the power of AI/machine learning to analyze IoT data, which allows more effective planning across the network’s existing—and planned—infrastructure.
• Cutting down the time needed to survey new locations for infrastructure buildout.
• Accuracy in planning the location and size of towers to power the 5G service.
• Real-time network monitoring, resulting in less downtime, better reliability, and more responsive service to customers.
• Ability to run advanced marketing to users in specific locations and see whether they work.