2. Business Intelligence 2.0 – The Hidden Treasures in Cell Tower
Data
A new and unconventional means for learning about one’s customers, cell towers
capture unique information that can be used in groundbreaking manners by any
mobile operator to better serve, market, and sell to its customer base.
Customer-related business intelligence efforts in telecoms have traditionally
relied on a standard set of information about the customer base, be it a BI effort
around predicting churn, segmenting customers, identifying sales opportunities,
etc. Normally analyzed categories of information have included (on a customer-
level) those that are usage related (VAS, SMS, international calls, etc.), volume
related (frequency, length, etc.), value related (ARPU, profitability, etc.),
information that is then analyzed in light of the demographical uniqueness of each
customer in an effort to identify patterns.
Most telecoms in developed countries have by now tapped in to their business
intelligence to segment their customers, and to develop churn prediction models.
Recently some have gone a step further and defined the social networks formed
within their customer base, among other models they have developed with
business intelligence.
What almost no telecom has done is to use the wealth of data captured by cell
towers regarding its customer base, data that can not only be used to strengthen
existing models, but to launch new ones. From helping telecoms decide where to
open a new dealer to how to allocate its marketing communications budget, cell
towers are the next great source of business intelligence for mobile phone
operators.
Cell towers (also known as cell sites), for those who may be new to the term, are
essentially antennas that are placed on top of buildings or are standalone
structures that allow mobile phone subscribers to receive a signal when they try
to make or receive a call. Each cell tower is able to cover a certain range and thus
allow subscribers within that range to benefit from its signal. To cover the USA,
for example, mobile phone operators have put up more than 250,000 cell towers,
spread strategically so as to maximize their individual network coverage ranges.
Being within close proximity of a cell tower is in and of itself not enough to ensure
receiving a signal however, as these towers have a number of channels available
for usage at any given time – one cell tower along cannot cover an entire city
block of Manhattan, for example, if half the subscribers on that block try to make
a call at the same time (as is the case in emergencies when one has a difficult time
getting a signal).
3. One final note about cell towers – when subscribers talk on the phone while they
are driving, they will switch between them as the signal of one fades and the
other strengthens. Thus, during the course of a 10 minute drive a subscriber may
be switched between 5 – 20 towers, depending on how rural / urban the area
they are driving through is.
When it comes to business intelligence, it’s not about how cell towers work, but
more about what information they capture about subscribers who connect to
them at any given time. Some of the key facts gathered in each and every single
connection to the cell tower by a subscriber include:
Subcriber Phone Number / ID
Type of Connection (Voice, SMS, Data)
Time of Connection
Duration of Connection
Direction of Connection
In and of itself the above doesn’t seem to add up to much in terms of business
intelligence. It’s when this information is combined with other key facts about
subscribers that the true value can be obtained. Add in to the mix…
Subscriber Nationality
Subscriber Age
Subscriber Gender
Subscriber Value-Added-Service Usage
Subscriber ARPU
Subscriber Handset
Subscriber Churn Risk (if conducted)
Subscriber Customer Segment (if conducted)
Neighborhood by neighborhood population data (if available)
…and now numerous findings will be obtained that can be used by sales and
marketing teams in telecoms to take action on. Five examples to start with:
1. Neighborhood-by-Neighborhood Market Share: As most telecoms have no
idea where their subscribers actually live (especially in prepaid dominated
markets), they have no way of knowing their penetration rates in a given city, let
alone a neighborhood. By examining each subscriber’s key cell tower connection
in the evenings and on weekends, a telecom can assign a general address to each
4. customer, down to that given cell tower’s location. Doing this for every customer
will give a telecom a general home address for each one, thus allowing it for
possibly the first time to know its subscriber base city-by-city, neighborhood-by-
neighborhood.
Combined with neighborhood level population data, a telecom can estimate its
market share and penetration rate across the country. This data can be used by
sales teams in innumerous ways, from determining where to possibly open a new
dealer store, to deciding where to send door-to-door sales representatives
(especially for the SOHO / SME segment). Information that would normally cost
thousands to obtain via market research is already available thanks to cell towers.
2. Neighborhood-by-Neighborhood Connection Types / Time / Duration /
Direction: Using the same principles above, a telecom can know down to a
neighborhood level the usage behavior of its customers. In some parts of a city a
telecom will find that local SMS is popular on weekends, in others, short voice
calls abroad. Not only can such information be used to help design new tariffs and
campaigns, but also to determine how to market down to a neighborhood level.
The telecom can be positioned as the best when it comes to its SMS bundles in a
neighborhood that cares for SMS, whereas in another the low off-peak
international calling rates will be put in the forefront – this done in the form of
billboards, flyers, in the dealers located there, etc.
3. Value / Churn / Location: Combining consumer churn likelihood and value,
telecoms can identify which cell towers are critical in terms of retention – those
towers with customers assigned to them that have high value / high churn
likelihood are of the utmost importance. Studies have historically found poor
network coverage plays a critical role in churn – the capacity of these mentioned
cell towers must be examined to ensure consumers do not experience dropped
calls in their home zones, or, even in their workday zones. Cell tower boosters or
additional cell towers may need to be considered in cases where capacity issues
are observed.
4. Neighborhood-by-Neighborhood Value-Added-Service Usage: Akin to
connection types, analysis of the home zone of consumers will identify in which
neighborhoods certain value-added-services are popular, have succeeded, or have
failed. Such an analysis would thus again show the potential in any given area of
the city for any value-added-service, and would determine marketing strategies
down to a neighborhood level. For example, the neighborhoods that have the
highest mobile phone data usage would be the best bets for putting up billboards
for a new GPS Maps or Online Gaming application to be or recently launched.
5. Cell Tower Segmentation: Taking into consideration all of the above
mentioned pieces of data and different observations, telecoms can segment their
cell towers into actionable clusters, assigning them each a value based on
connected subscribers, their churn risks and segments, their tenure, etc. Such an
effort would help a telecom know which cell towers need to be prioritized when
5. they go down, which ones should be upgraded to 3.5 technology based on those
connecting, which ones are below-zero (have the lowest ARPU subscribers
connecting to them) and can be maintained / consolidated, etc.
The above is really just the tip of the iceberg. Once a telecom gets the basics set
up, the ways in which cell tower data can be used will increase, findings it way
into the core of sales, marketing, and operations teams, becoming an
indispensable part of their intelligence-driven day-to-day practices.
Cell towers also capture significant information regarding international customers
roaming in the country, information that can be used in numerous ways to devise
separate strategies aimed at getting the most out of each of them.
6. About Forte Consultancy Group
Forte Consultancy Group delivers fact-based solutions, balancing short and long term
impact as well as benefits for stakeholders. Forte Consultancy Group provides a variety
of service offerings for numerous sectors, approached in three general phases –
intelligence, design and implementation.
For more information, please contact
info@forteconsultancy.com
Forte Consultancy Group | Istanbul Office
www.forteconsultancy.com
