Telecom Sector

Tower inspection – Telecom Tower,  Electrical Power Supply Tower,  Electrical Sub Station Tower, Solar Power

Third Party Inspection Is an Enabler For Telecom Sector & Telecom Infrastructure Companies.

All of you must have seen telecom towers which have mushroomed all over the city. These are the proof of tremendous pace with which the Telecom sector has grown over a decade now. With the advent of new technology like 4G & more it’s likely to continue the same over the coming years.

Telecom infrastructure companies are the backbone for any telecom network and provide site infrastructure consisting of tower, shelter, generator, and other sets of utilities essential for running telecom network equipment.

Challenge for these infra companies which deploy and monetize the tower is to Ensure fast-paced deployment meeting telecom companies target and ensuring quality of infra deployed.

While the companies measure the performance of the employee on the basis of infra deployed, there always loom fear of tweaking in quality in order to meet burgeoning targets. This is not in the long term interest of the company.

Third-Party inspection of infra comes handy here and ensures the interest of the company viz. Tower, Shelter, Civil Foundation, Electrical equipment’s etc. meet the quality standard.

This Achieves Twin Objective 1. Quality insurance 2. Faster deployment

• Less defects and rework More & Specialised manpower on the field.

Type Of Inspection Activities Done For Telecom Infrastructure

• One quality Manual.
• Common Internal Audit – with the integration of requirements of all standards.
• Common Management Review Meeting.
• Less time for the development of documentation and implementation.
• Cost-effective
• Less Audit time as compare to individual management system certification.
• Common audit report.
• Duplication effort reduced during implementation

1. Pre Dispatch Inspection (PDI) – this type of third party inspection is generally carry out at the Pre-Dispatch-check-for-Towerpremises of the manufacturer for Tower, shelter, DG etc. equipment. The pre-Dispatch inspection involves checking of quality and quantity of material.

For Telecom Tower following is checked

• Dimensions(including thickness) of Tower Members as per approved drawings
• The thickness of galvanizing as per approved specs
• Material/raw material as per design/strength criteria
• Check Quantity of members as per BOQ

For Telecom Shelter (Puff/Metallic Room in knocked downstate – to be built at Site)

• Dimensions(including thickness) of Shelter Members as per approved drawings
• Completeness of material as per BOQ
• Confirmation of material as per design and drawing criteria
• Channel specs and length as per Required BOQ

2. Post Erection/Installation Inspection – This inspection is done at the telecom site, post-installation of infra item, generally measures the defects in workmanship/installation.

For Telecom tower post erection check includes

• Verticality check
• Water level check / Centre to Centre distance between Tower Pedestal’s
• Tightening check using a torque wrench.
• Check for any Missing members, as per standard drawing
• Sometimes tower strengthening is carried out and inspection is done to ensure that strengthening is as per approved drawing.

For Telecom Shelter post erection check includes

• Water level check for foundation ISMB.
• Water seepage check for shelter roof
• Proper installation of flashing, riveting and Air-conditioning cutting etc.

3. Civil work Inspection and Certification

For installation of infra at the site, the civil Foundation is made using M20 Concreting. Telecom site is of two types GBT (ground-based tower) & RTT (Rooftop tower/pole), for both types of sites quality checks are made through third party agency for Civil Foundation.

Types of Third-Party Quality checks for Civil Foundation on the basis of the timing of inspection are

Pre Concreting Inspection: Third-party quality inspection is carried out to ensure that Bar Bending and shuttering is as per approved drawing and bar bending schedule. Also, the quality of shuttering, its line, and level is Ok or Not. For a GBT site if the Depth of Pit, PCC etc. is as per approved drawing.

During Casting/Concreting Inspection: Third-party Inspection Officer ensures the casting is being done as per M20 Guidelines with 1:1.5:3 ratios of components and appropriate use of Mixture and other components. Cube testing samples are also filled in the presence of a third-party engineer. A report in the form of Pour Cards is signed and certified by Third-party officers.

Post-Casting Inspection: Checking of Final surface finish, removal of shuttering, and Mandatory curing of 7 days with gunny bags all is checked and certified by third-party agency.

4. Electrical Work Inspection and Certification – Electric work inspection involves checking of Resistance of Earth Pits, Cables, and wires as per size /make specified in approved BOQ. The workmanship in the form of crimping, routing etc. along with the working conditions of electrical equipment like DG, SMPS, PIU(Power interface unit) etc. is checked and certified by Third Party engineer.

5. As-Built Drawings Validation: These site drawings are also checked and certified by Third-party Agencies.s

6. Structure/Loading check for Tower /Pole for Addition Loading: To accommodate more operators on the same tower or pole, loading check is done considering the area of antennas on tower/pole and area remaining which can be used.

All Inspection reports from third parties are collated for a site and are presented to the Telecom Company as evidence to the trouble-free operating conditions of the site.