Utility and telco companies partnership needs to provide value-added services

KUALA LUMPUR: The partnership between power utilities and telecommunication companies (telcos) will have to provide innovative value-added services other than just pure electricity and communications backbone, say thought leaders in innovations and smart solutions for the electricity supply industry (ESI).

James Chong, Managing Director of Accenture Digital (ASEAN) said many utility companies in the twin industries of power and telecommunications often found a better rate of success if they were to team up to offer special packages and solutions, including the Internet of Things (IOT) and other services rather than doing it all alone.

For example, utility companies in Barcelona combined to provide a common platform for power, telecommunications and IOT, which could be used by other service providers to provide special packages to consumers.

One of the services, which is part of the integrated platform in Barcelona, is ensuring that elevator doors at the main train station are wide open on the right floors when passengers arrived during peak hours.

Chong was speaking at a press conference after presenting a paper on ESI innovations and smart solutions on the final day of the three-day Conference of Electric Power Supply Industry Conference (CEPSI) 2018 yesterday.

CEPSI, hosted by Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), is held once every two years for energy players in East Asia and the Western Pacific, as well as other parts of the world to discuss energy issues.

Chong said integration often enabled utility companies to become more efficient as they reinvented themselves while consumers were offered more service choices, as well as lower costs as shown by examples in Saudi Arabia and the Netherlands.

The efficiency of power utilities often played a major role in a country’s industrial development in the past but against the backdrop of technological disruptions, they would now have to determine what would be their next phase of development in terms of innovative solutions, he explained.

Kamal Ballot, Nokia Global Vice-President of Energy Segment, concurred with Chong that companies would have to go the extra mile to ensure that their revenue streams could be enhanced although integration could also mean lower costs for consumers.

For example, he said proper planning by an innovative integrated power and telecommunications utility company in Chattanooga, Tennessee (the US) in harnessing the information and communications technology (ICT) helped to revitalise the town after it declined with the old economy.

This revitalisation has helped the former coal-mining town to become more attractive to businesses and residents for it to emerge as one of the top choices for people to work and live, he said.

He said innovation also allowed integrated power and telecommunication utilities to reach out to consumers in remote areas more efficiently as exemplified by efforts in Pennsylvania in the US.

Ballot pointed out that as consumers became more demanding, utility companies would have to think of more innovative features to keep them satisfied in real time while thinking of ways to stay cost competitive and earn more revenue amidst a lower cost structure. - Bernama