Wed, 23 Oct 2024

Data-Driven Spatial Intelligence Unlocks Rapid Growth for Rural Telco Co-op 

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Spatial asset management solutions from VertiGIS help streamline workflows, transform infrastructure and prepare Alaskan broadband provider for the future

Established as Matanuska Telephone Association in 1953 and now known as MTA Solutions, the 100% wholly owned cooperative based in Palmer, Alaska is the state’s premier provider of technology and communication solutions. The telecommunications co-op endeavors to provide connectivity solutions for its member-owners and patrons that will enable them to thrive in a digitally connected world.

The Challenge: 

Like many of today’s telecom companies and technology solution providers, MTA began by supplying customers with residential telephone services. Over the decades, as communications technology and network requirements evolved, the company kept pace with the changes, deploying new digital tools to design and maintain its communication infrastructure.

As the fiber optic revolution took hold, MTA had already moved past paper-based maps and construction design drawing processes, leveraging the power of CAD (Computer Aided Design) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) together to help their teams identify optimal fiber optic installation sites, plan efficient network expansions and optimize the deployment lifecycle.

The right tool for the job
However, as broadband deployment requirements accelerated, and FTTx networks began to rapidly replace copper cabling, MTA realized that to maintain service reliability and stay ahead of the competition, they would need a state-of-the-art network engineering and design solution. The company chose M4, by VertiGIS. A comprehensive network design tool, M4 software gives MTA full visibility into their infrastructure, enabling them to visually design and map inside/outside fiber, copper, and coax networks, plus manage the entire lifecycle of their network infrastructure from a single platform

A one-stop shop for spatial insight
With M4 software’s successful digitization of critical infrastructure realized, MTA started looking for additional ways to uncover net value from data and boost return on their location-based investments. Already a user of Esri’s ArcGIS® system, the company recognized that use cases for geographic technologies in the telecommunications industry were rapidly expanding outside of the GIS department, and that when expertly deployed, domain-specific, spatial analytics solutions could be an integral enabler of their ambitious digital modernization plans. Based on an existing record of accomplishment, MTA once again turned to VertiGIS to provide technology, tools and solutions to meet their goals.

The Solution:

To ensure location intelligence is embedded in workflows and daily operations, MTA deployed a range of VertiGIS products, in addition to M4 software:

  • VertiGIS Network Locator – is built on Esri technology and cloud-based data processing, the software enables MTA to evaluate, manage, and complete locates tasks in the context of their utility network maps.
  • VertiGIS Studio Mobile – a lightweight, web browser-based tool to facilitate easy mobile field data collection.
  • VertiGIS Studio Web – an intuitive, easy-to-use viewer and framework used to develop GIS apps built around MTA’s specific use cases and requirements.
  • VertiGIS Studio Go – a mobile app enabling users to access the applications they need to get their work done.

With a web/mobile-first user approach, the VertiGIS software used by MTA is designed to answer the unique challenges telecoms and operators face by providing for SaaS and on-premises hybrid options, telecom specific functionality, and configurability that delivers fast deployments with reduced risk.

The Result: 

Taking its rugged, isolated geography into account, Alaska is one of the country’s most difficult regions to construct broadband infrastructure. Additional constraints such as extreme weather, a short work season, a widely dispersed customer base and myriad natural hazards present challenges found nowhere else. But, with solutions and services from VertiGIS, MTA was able to leverage location-based intelligence to deploy its resources more efficiently, accelerate network construction, save time, drive down costs and improve service in surprising ways, including: 

  1. Documentation and Reporting
    • FCC Broadband Data Collection (BDC): To close the digital divide, the Broadband Serviceable Location Fabric details availability data for fixed and mobile broadband services. “The Fabric” is the foundational location database used across several government programs, including NTIA’s BEAD. VertiGIS technology has enabled MTA to submit the required data and challenge reports much more easily thanks to amalgamated datasets from both M4 software and ArcGIS, saving months of manual data integration, review and validation tasks.
    • Alaska Plan filing requirements: Carriers receiving Alaska Plan support to maintain, extend and upgrade broadband service across the state must comply with a range of filing and certification requirements annually. VertiGIS technology makes validating and sharing specific geographic data with the FCC much faster and more efficient.

  2. Network site selection, planning and management: Facilities mapping with integrated geographical context helps MTA blueprint inside and outside plant infrastructure precisely. Whether its cables, conduits, pedestals, hand holes or peds, the company now knows exactly where all its network assets are located geographically in relation to each other and to land base, helping them better understand network capacity, calculate cost-effective expansions and identify gaps in coverage.

  3. Network maintenance, fleet and workforce management: Whether online or off, thanks to mobile and web applications, MTA can create plant condition reports with accurate data from the field, quickly issue repair orders to maintenance crews and restore service more rapidly.

  4. Service area qualification and customer analytics: With correct as-built information easily available, MTA can offer new/enhanced services to customers or promote their upcoming availability.

  5. Emergency response with integrated maps: Wildfires are a fact of life in Alaska and resilient telecom networks are critically important during emergency situations. To reduce potential wildfire impact to MTA’s infrastructure, the company is overlaying Alaska Wildland Fire Information maps atop their network infrastructure locations to enhance disaster/emergency response and damage mitigation efforts.

Another step forward
It is no surprise that MTA is planning to do more with VertiGIS solutions, including using real-time geographical map integration to quickly identify the location of ADTRAN alarms to facilitate the rapid deployment of repair teams.

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