Business Overview | Electric Company Servicing Rural Areas
Most utility companies serve customers across a large geographic area – and for many organizations, that means serving customers that may live in hard-to-reach locations. One electric company located in Missouri found itself serving tens of thousands of residential customers, some of whom were located in exceedingly rural areas.
The Challenge | Complying With Mandates While Increasing Communications and Efficiency
When the FCC mandated narrowbanding in 2013, many organizations had to make plans to update their equipment to continue their critical operations. During this time, the Missouri-based electric company made the decision not only to upgrade the necessary equipment but also to take a look at improving the reliability of their communications.
With customers spread throughout such a large, rural area they often had coverage issues along the edges of their territory, as well as in the area of rougher terrain. They, unfortunately, had instances where they were unable to communicate with crews in the more isolated areas and their crew would have to physically leave the area and drive to an area with better coverage in order to receive instructions and provide updates which is incredibly inefficient.
The Solution | MOTOTRBO Provides Reliable Communication And Transforms Operations
As the electric utility explored options for how to increase its efficiency and coverage while complying with the FCC narrowbanding mandate, it came across MOTOTRBO digital radios.
Initially, the organization had been planning to only upgrade part of its system in an effort to comply with the FCC mandate and stay within its allocated budget. However, once they discovered MOTOTRBO they realized that not only could they increase the reliability of their communications, but they could upgrade all of the existing radios within the fleet.
The Result | Upgrading And Future-Proofing Communications While Staying On Budget
By deploying MOTOTRBO digital radios, the electric utility was able to completely replace their outdated analog radios and dramatically increase organization-wide efficiency – all while staying on budget.
Due to the spotty coverage they had previously dealt with, they had been in the practice of providing their linemen with paper work orders and having information transmitted by radio throughout the day. The linemen would then take handwritten notes throughout the day and drop off the paperwork at the end of their shift. This meant that the internal team needed to manage a large volume of paperwork day in and day out.
By implementing MOTOTRBO digital radios, they could now use the MOTOTRBO radios to power data applications for mobile computers. Now, work orders could be updated on the go by the dispatch center, and the linemen could make updates between jobs without having to handwrite notes that were difficult to transcribe. The internal team is now able to manage digital records, which are more easily maintained, updated, organized, and retrieved.
And, of course, the reliability of communication skyrocketed. The team went from having instances where they could barely communicate with their linemen who were on the outskirts of the coverage zone or who were in an area of rough terrain to being in near-constant communication.
The Team | MCA Provides Tailored Communications Solutions
For over 30 years, MCA has provided expertly tailored communications solutions to public and private utilities in need of two-way radios, field connectivity, and wireless signal enhancement systems. Our team provides top-tier support for every aspect of your business and mission-critical communications projects from start to finish. Our engineers assess your needs, design custom solutions, and install systems that fit your organization’s exacting requirements.