Hong Kong-based DMX gets Reliance Jio deal for utility management

NEW DELHI: New telecom entrant Reliance Jio Infocomm has given a network management contract to Hong Kong-based DMX Technologies for mobile towers utility monitoring to minimize operational costs for a minimum of three years across all 22 circles.

"This association with RJio comes after almost a year of effort in understanding the plans and needs of the telco for the 4G rollout," DMX Technologies India country head Satish Kumar V told ET, adding that the deal included custom solutions for tower utility monitoring.

He didn't elaborate on the value of the deal. Jio did not respond to ET's query.

DMX Technologies initiated a pilot much ahead of its commercial foray, in 2014, after showcasing its IT infrastructure management suite EverestIMS which, according to the company, facilitates business agility, reduces operational costs and increases network resilience.

"With its operational footprint across the country and as a 4G services challenger, RJio was in a need of custom software solutions that could enable it to be on the top of telecom play," Kumar said.

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Jio launched commercial operations on September 5 on the back of telecom infrastructure spread across 18,000 cities with an investment of Rs 1.50 lakh crore.

Jio, a part of oil-to-logistics conglomerate RIL, also plans to put up 45,000 new mobile towers at an additional spend of Rs 1 lakh crore.

DMX said that power and diesel used to run the telecom towers were real cash burners and the complete customised tower utility monitoring services to RJio is a key operational component, directly contributing to the telco's business efficiency.

Telecom group GSMA estimates a consumption of more than 2.5 billion litres of diesel at telecom tower sites to ensure power availability in excess of 99.95%, and fuel losses which are estimated to be 15% to 20%, service providers spend more than Rs 60,000 on average per site every month.

"Our solution is helping Jio to optimize efficiencies. From a single centralized dashboard, RJio is now able to monitor and analyze the power consumptions of all its towers across all its circles," the company's top executive added.

Kumar, however, feels that with every new service rollout in the telecom sector, IT infrastructure would become an integral part in both service delivery and business operations, and said that integrated IT-managed infrastructure would be a key factor to be considered by all telcos for future rollouts.