Mapping the Future of Connectivity: How GIS is Solving Telecom Infrastructure Challenges

In an era when location information holds immense value, geospatial data empowers telecom companies with vital insights. These insights will drive decision-making, enhance efficiency, and foster sustainable growth. It means that the next chapter of telecommunications will be based on faster, more reliable, integrated networks.

Therefore, more efficient network planning will be a crucial enabler for delivering high-quality telecom services. Building robust, modern networks encompasses installing current network infrastructure assets, anticipating future demands, optimising resource allocation, and ensuring minimal downtime.

Here, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have emerged as a key differentiator. They offer a powerful, holistic solution that can help to optimise network design, deployment, and end-to-end lifecycle management.

Closing the Gap Between Network Plans and Field Reality

Arguably, telecommunications networks have long suffered from decades of underinvestment, with ageing and expensive infrastructure stifling network innovation – highlighting the urgent need to modernise fast.

Globally, telecom operators face an estimated $130 billion investment gap by 2030, underscoring the urgent need to accelerate digital transformation. Until telecom companies adopt a more modern approach and stop trying to tackle today’s challenges with yesterday’s outdated methods and technology, these issues will only get bigger and more problematic.

Telecom companies face mounting challenges. These range from discrepancies between as-planned and as-built network data to outdated digital maps that delay construction, maintenance, and redesign efforts. The inability to seamlessly sync field updates with central systems via mobile apps further amplifies operational inefficiencies.

To address these issues, modern GIS platforms now offer:

• Real-time tools for field data capture
• Integrated version control and governance frameworks,
• Dashboards that merge planned vs. built infrastructure,

As AI functionality matures, GIS is increasingly seen as a driver of automation and predictive analytics driven by AI data. AI-powered features could help to increase productivity and transform workflow processes for both end users and development teams.

These capabilities are critical to the rollout of fibre networks, where visualising real-time customer availability is essential. Many rural and underserved areas rely on outdated wire systems for broadband services. These legacy systems also restrict the deployment of advanced connectivity in the digitisation of city networks.

Reducing manual design work, operators can rapidly deploy new networks and optimise existing ones, reaching customers before their competitors do.

The Fibre Boom

The telecommunications industry continues to undergo a massive shift towards fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) infrastructure. Operators and investors recognise fibre as the dominant broadband technology of the future. In many markets, fibre deployment has surpassed 90% coverage, and the trend shows no signs of slowing down.

With the rise of data-intensive applications such as cloud computing, both consumers and businesses require faster, more reliable connectivity. Fibre offers higher speeds, lower latency, and greater bandwidth than legacy broadband technologies. However, despite this growth, operators face high deployment costs, time-to-market pressures, and subscriber rates as pressing issues.

Subscriber take-up rates are not keeping pace with deployment efforts. Many fibre installations are delayed or require multiple technician visits due to inaccurate or incomplete network data. This increases operational costs and leads to customer frustration.

Furthermore, challenger networks (altnets) pose a significant threat to traditional fibre operators by building competing fibre networks in the same areas. This can lead to overbuilding, forcing incumbents to maintain investment in their own networks, and potentially losing customers.

Using a unified platform for network planning, design, and documentation supports operators to scale efficiently, reduce costs, and accelerate deployments. With GIS, this can automate key planning processes such as identifying the most cost-effective routes, minimising material and labour costs, and streamlining network decisions. This is especially useful in densely-populated areas – and in deploying climate-resilient networks that can identify and mitigate vulnerabilities to floods, extreme wind conditions, and other climatic conditions.

Furthermore, a well-documented network delivers real-time visibility of infrastructure, seamless integration with business support systems and effective capacity planning and resource allocation.

End-to-End Infrastructure and Asset Management

Building and maintaining telecommunication networks requires precision and foresight, with understanding its assets – and how they are documented – a common challenge.

GIS serves as the bridge between engineering and operations for every project, providing an inventory of all assets within a network in one place.

Accurate asset documentation throughout the network lifecycle is critical for installation, maintenance, and day-to-day network operations. This can positively or negatively impact customer experiences; there’s nothing worse than relying on the end user to identify where networks may be faltering, at a time when they need it most.

GIS in Action

Natural disasters and crises can occur at any time of year and anywhere. To develop effective strategies to strengthen and sustain emergency procedures, we must understand the risks they face. GIS technology can be utilised in crisis management and recovery, enabling rapid identification of asset damage.

By integrating real-time data, telecom companies can use a telecom network inventory solution to quickly identify the exact location of damage. Using that information, they can prioritise the replacement of affected cables, feeders, terminals or power supplies. It enables the faster restoration of critical services.

Network inventory and asset management tools are transforming how telecom companies plan, manage, and maintain their networks. By anticipating future demands, optimising resource allocation, and minimising downtime, GIS applications enable operators to build more efficient and resilient infrastructure.

They enable teams to visualise assets, schedule inspections, and sync field updates via offline-capable applications, thereby improving operational efficiency and collaboration. With live network maps and customer overlays, telecom companies gain a comprehensive situational view that supports more informed decision-making.

Low-code dashboards further enhance visibility by providing incident maps and real-time status boards, which are particularly valuable for field technicians using mobile apps. In turn, more efficient network planning becomes a key enabler of faster, more reliable, and integrated networks, helping operators maximise revenue while reducing unexpected costs for users.

GIS: The Indispensable Missing Layer

With demand for high-speed fibre internet increasing at breakneck speed, GIS in telecommunications is no longer just a competitive advantage; it’s a requirement. By leveraging advanced GIS capabilities, traditional network and infrastructure management can be transformed. This improves planning accuracy, emergency preparedness, and operational efficiency in managing telecommunication networks in the coming years.

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VertiGIS unlocks the power of location to help organizations work smarter. Its innovative geospatial solutions connect complex location data with real-world operational workflows for utilities, government bodies, telecom providers, and commercial and industrial teams. This empowers them to manage assets with precision, drive efficiencies, and achieve superior outcomes.

VertiGIS’ Neo technology vision powers this transformation. Cloud-first, industry-informed, AI-enabled tools are paired with a portfolio of applications including VertiGIS Studio, VertiGIS Networks, VertiGIS FM, VertiGIS LM, and VertiGIS ConnectMaster. These solutions extend and enhance Esri’s ArcGIS® platform, adapting to the needs of both small teams and enterprise-scale deployments.

More than 5,000 organizations worldwide rely on VertiGIS to turn geospatial data into actionable insights. To learn more about VertiGIS, visit www.vertigis.com

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