TNM in US$6.5m network upgrade

Malawi’s premier mobile service provider TNM, has announced the completion of a three year Radio Access Network (RAN) modernisation programme across the country at a cost of US$6.5 million.

The project objectives were to replace legacy equipment with modern state of the art outdoor Base Transceiver Station (BTS) which included upgrading of power systems in all sites across the country.

TNM’s head of RAN division, Vishwajeet Deshmukh, said the programme has been completed successfully and customers can now experience improved quality service from the TNM network.

After installing the new modern equipment, we immediately saw the benefits in the form of improved network performance. We have also noticed an increased traffic trend after the network modernisation which indicates an increased uptake by customers due to improved customer experience,” Deshmukh said.

Deshmukh said the modern equipment has bigger capacity that enables customers to access quality services without experiencing congestion.

“To the customers, this means that they will experience better services, there are much higher capacities to make calls and the ability to connect to the network is always guaranteed. The modern equipment also goes a long way to provide best of class services and satisfy ever increasing demand,” he said.

He added that the modern equipment is energy efficient and environmental friendly as less power is consumed to transmit radio signals. The fact that the equipment is designed for outdoor use means the need for air conditioners for cooling is no longer required. This has a huge saving on power consumption and emission is reduced to zero.

“The cooling requirement for the old equipment was huge as we were required to run air conditions at every site, which proved costly because of high power consumption and regular maintenance requirement. However, the new state-of-art equipment will result into power saving and help to reduce power load in many areas,” explained Deshmukh.

He also noted that the there is currently a global concern about global warming caused specifically by emission and the role that pollution plays in the weather and environment; TNM`s new equipment is designed to adhere to international environmental standards and regulations.

The project started in 2012 and has been carried out in three phases.

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