Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) today unveiled its latest radio base station site concept – Ericsson Tower Tube - for the Indian telecom market in Hyderabad. The award winning solution represents a generation leap in site engineering and design and has been specially conceived to reduce the total cost of ownership for customers and provide a sustainable, energy efficient and cost-effective means of bringing communications to all.
The Ericsson Tower Tube is a truly pioneering construction that houses base stations and antennas, fully encapsulating them in an aesthetic and energy-efficient with low environmental impact.
In contrast to traditional towers, the Tower Tube’s superior design employs modular concrete construction that allows the structure to be deployed quickly and easily, besides providing additional protection from vandalism and lightening. A self-contained site, it safely houses all equipment within its slim design (about 5m diameter at the base), making site acquisitions easier as compared to conventional sites which require more area for set up.
The tower’s concrete exterior protects equipment effectively from the elements and provides a stable internal environment. The radio base stations (RBSs) are enclosed within the tower, initially installed at the bottom of the tower and then raised to the top by an elevator. Elevating the RBSs reduces feeder loss and allows for improved network coverage and capacity. The antennas are protected by a radome, or weatherproof enclosure. All this contributes to the Tower Tube’s low deployment cost, making it ideal for large scale roll outs.
Concrete itself has a lower environmental impact than traditional steel, producing 30 percent less CO2 emissions during production and transportation. In addition, the Ericsson Tower Tube does not require feeders and cooling systems. This results in up to 40 percent lower power consumption than traditional base station sites, helping operators reduce their operating costs significantly. With its cutting-edge design, that lends it to being built in many sizes and painted in a variety of colors, the Ericsson Tower Tube is a natural fit for any landscape.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. P Balaji, Vice President Marketing and Strategy, Ericsson India and Sri Lanka said,” At Ericsson, it has always been our endeavor to offer world-class products and services to our customers. This energy-optimized radio base station concept reflects our ability to understand and respond to customer requirements by reducing the total cost of ownership in order to expedite the roll out of mobile communications in India”.
“With its undisputed advantages and unique design, the Tower Tube is a testimonial of our technology leadership and reiterates our vision of providing innovative solutions to enhance the growth of telecom”, he added.
Commenting on the launch Mr. Ajay Bhattacharya, Administrator, United Services Obligation Fund (USOF) said, “The Tower Tube is an inspiring solution and innovations such as this are the need of the hour. I congratulate Ericsson on having chosen Hyderabad to set up its first innovative radio base station site concept in India. I am confident that such path breaking concepts will help reduce the cost of roll outs across the country and help bridge the digital divide“.
Designed by Scandinavian architect Thomas Sandell, the Ericsson Tower Tube recently won the Technology Design category of the 2008 Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation Awards as a testimony of its design, efficacy and low environmental impact.
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Ericsson's award-winning* Ericsson Tower Tube
Ericsson's Tower Tube has won the Technology Design category of the 2008 Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation Awards.
Ericsson's work in developing the Tower Tube captured the attention of judges at the eighth annual Innovation Awards, which recognize innovative individuals, companies and organizations around the world. There were 700 entries across all categories, with only four percent of submissions receiving awards.
The Ericsson Tower Tube design "is a good attempt at making cell towers less obtrusive", said Darlene JS Solomon, chief technology officer of Agilent Technologies Inc. and an Innovation Awards judge.
