Digital Threads are Re-inventing the Modern TowerCo: OSS, Drones, 3D Models and GTM Innovation

Tower sites / assets have long been seen as fixed infrastructure. Passive, static, silent.
But a new wave of tools and novel go-to-market (GTM) models are rewriting the rulebook.
The smartest TowerCos no longer manage their tower assets from CAD drawings, spreadsheets and manpower alone. They’re turning each site into an edge utility hub. Dynamic, intelligent and interactive, with full commercial visibility and immersive situational awareness.

The global TowerCo model is entering a new phase. It’s no longer defined by passive infrastructure management, but by dynamic, data-rich processes that blend operations, monetisation and digital engagement.

Since many TowerCos are carve-outs (ie often private equity-backed tower asset acquisitions / roll-ups), this provides an opportunity to totally re-think how towers are managed. In fact, TowerCos are obliged to think differently about tower assets because their objectives are different to traditional telcos. A traditional telco builds towers to put telco infrastructure on them and derive income from that infrastructure. A TowerCo is more like a real-estate model, selling off space (leases) on the tower to any customers that want to mount their infrastructure there.

As these tower assets morph to become next-gen infrastructure platforms, the supporting systems must evolve too. OSS tools originally built for traditional telcos often fall short in meeting the different and nuanced needs of TowerCos operating at the edge – where compute, power and connectivity converge.

This article explores the “digital threads” being woven together to redefine how TowerCos operate, sell and scale. Through practical examples that are available today, from drone-based photogrammetry to AR-enhanced site tours, we illustrate how advanced OSS tools, processes and GTM strategies can enable modern TowerCos to become more than landlords.

We’ll also dive into the drivers of the business case that helps them become digital infrastructure platforms, as follows:

1. From Drone Flyovers to Reality Triplets

Drones are fast becoming standard tools in the TowerCo toolkit, capturing photogrammetry data to create high-fidelity 3D models of tower and site / compound layouts. These reality twins serve as spatially accurate digital replicas of physical sites. There are numerous tools already available on the market to manage these reality twins / triplets such as the example below:

However, the real innovation lies in transforming these twins into reality triplets by layering two important OSS data sources onto the visual model:

• Network inventory / assets (aligned with the orange and green bounding boxes on the animation above)
• Real-time telemetry data (this can include signal strength, equipment configurations, energy consumption, fuel levels, access logs and more)

This evolution allows operators to:

• Perform remote inspections with complete situational context
• Compare changes in infrastructure over time (eg rust damage, cable damage from birds, etc)
• Visualise assets, site conditions and site access before field teams are dispatched
• Identify “barnacles” (ie assets that are mounted onto the tower that aren’t recognised in other asset or billing records, but we’ll come back to this in more detail later)

2. Live Data Meets 3D Models

When OSS platforms integrate with telemetry sources (eg NMS telemetry and configuration feeds, diesel generator monitors, smart meters, environmental alarms, OH&S hazards, change management windows, etc) they can provide real-time overlays that make each 3D model a living, breathing interface.

These overlays can be useful for remote workers (eg NOC engineers) as well as their fieldwork counterparts who are visiting site. This results in a more accurate shared awareness of current conditions on site.

For example:

• A spike in power consumption or damaged / drained batteries can trigger an alert directly visible on the site model
• Access records, events and/or trends in tickets-of-work can be visualised as heatmaps or timelines of past activities / events
• Fault patterns can be traced across sites using colour-coded incident markers
• Planned versus actual configurations of passive or active equipment comparisons

Overall, reality triplets give TowerCo teams the context they need to take faster, smarter action-and avoid unnecessary site visits.

3. AR and VR for Sales, Ops and Enablement

High-resolution imagery (described above) allow for AR and VR (Augmented and Virtual Reality) tools to unlock new capabilities across sales, field operations and training including:

• Sales Enablement: Prospective tenants can explore towers virtually before signing co-location or lease agreements, seeing the environment where they will build their new, bolt-on infrastructure
• Remote Operations: Field engineers use AR headsets to see a variety of visual aids – from live telemetry data / graphs relating to actual hardware, to hazards, to planned vs actual equipment (eg for easy barnacle spotting). Whereas expert technicians, designers or auditors may have had to travel to site and be lifted into place by “cherry pickers,” they can now perform similar analysis directly on the 3D model from remote locations. Travel reductions mean that more sites can be “visited” each day by these experts
• Planning / Engineering: Field engineers can more easily visualise the changes they’re scheduled to perform on the real 3D infrastructure in front of them, as opposed to the old 2D drawings and other information provided in traditional design packs
• Training: Teams can simulate safety scenarios or guided tower climbs before ever setting foot onsite
• Available Capacity: 3D plans can be generated that help with planning, firstly to identify available new infrastructure mount-points, but secondly to estimate the value of those mount-points (in terms of the monetisation potential of coverage from those points via demographic analysis and overlay)

Using the 3D model shown above, we can also generate an augmented reality view of the tower and even coverage maps (not shown in animated GIF above). The video (shaky – sorry) shows a tower projected onto our boardroom table as recorded through my phone. The placeholder and orange annotations are static in this example, but can easily show real-time data streams.

These technologies reduce operational costs, compress sales cycles, reduce training overhead and lower the risk associated with physical site work.

4. The OSS Layer That Connects It All

The shift from passive infrastructure to interactive platforms is made possible by the OSS ecosystem that ties all these data sources together. Key tools include:

• Tower Management software (such as Tarantula): Comprehensive site and lease lifecycle management with built-in integrations for RMS, ERP, compliance and inspection workflows. These tools often also help with a variety of other use-cases, ranging from site access to contractor management and much more
• Digital Twins / Triplets (such as 5×5.ai): For managing the 3D models, imagery, engineering, asset identification, line-of-sight possibilities and more
  
• RF Coverage Mapping (such as Twinkler): RF visualisation overlays to support planning and customer assurance
  This diagram only shows predicted coverage, but the data can also be augmented with drive / fly test data as well for actual coverage.
  In terms of demographic or other intelligence layers, you can start to get a bit more of a feel for how these can be combined with the coverage predictions above via this video below:
  
• Network Inventory (such as Kuwaiba): Network devices, connnectivity and topology modelling at the site and backhaul levels
  
• Telemetry / Observability / Assurance / AIOps (such as OpenNMS, NetAI, etc): Responsive and Predictive analytics for network traffic and capacity, aiding in keeping the network, services and infrastructure operating in a healthy state.
  
• Project, Ticketing, Work Order and/or Workforce Management (such as Eaco): Assist with managing the activities performed on site, which includes site access, activity assign & dispatch, work completion & acceptance, contractor management and much, much more

Together, these tools provide the APIs, dashboards, portal, analytics and automation layers that orchestrate the physical and digital dimensions of the TowerCo estate.

5. Rethinking GTM Models and Operational Processes

With real-time visibility, the types of tools mentioned above and automated workflows, TowerCos are able to entirely reimagine their Ops Models and how they take services to market:

• Remote designs and planning (and avoidance of site inductions / approvals) reduce client turnaround times
• Tenant onboarding can even become a digital workflow with SLAs created and enforced via OSS
• Sites become more valuable as edge utility packages (eg Comms, power and compute)
• Remote site audits and predictive maintenance reduce truck rolls and manual inspections
• Outsourcing of maintenance contracts, reducing headcount within the organisation

This leads to faster commercial cycles, leaner operations and more scalable revenue models.

6. Building the Business Case

On their own, these digital technologies such as 3D photogrammetry models struggle to deliver an observable ROI (Return on Investment). However, when multiple use-cases are layered together, these innovations aren’t just technical upgrades, they deliver measurable business value including:

• Reduction in site visits thanks to remote inspections and telemetry. Given tower sites are often in remote locations, truck roll reductions can have an added effect
• Faster integration of acquired sites and leases post-M&A. There have been cases where barnacles identified during the due-diligence process have identified significant historical under-billing that can be remedied via updating lease records and financial recovery
• Turning available mount-points into commercial benefit estimates (ie realisable returns from radio coverage areas) to assist with tenancy negotiations
• Faster revenue turn-on due to optimised service / lease activations due to speedier design, planning and regulatory approvals
• Revenue uplift from selling edge power, compute and premium SLAs
• Improved asset valuations due to digital transparency and service layering (and commercial benefit estimates of coverage areas as mentioned above)
• Lean operations with fewer people required for higher levels of oversight and responsiveness
• Simpler outsourcing of operations and maintenance tasks due to having greater situational awareness

Conclusion

Modern TowerCos are no longer just in the business of building and leasing vertical real estate. With the right digital stack, they become orchestration hubs for power, compute, connectivity and commercial engagement. The digital threads explored here (eg reality triplets, AR/VR interfaces, intelligent OSS tools and GTM innovation) represent the fabric of that business model transformation.

Those who invest now won’t just own infrastructure. They’ll own the platform. In a landscape increasingly defined by efficiency and asset monetisation, the case for investment in OSS, drones, telemetry and AR/VR is no longer speculative for TowerCos. It’s a strategic imperative.