Problems faced in installing, operating and

maintaining
Rural Telecommunications Systems

Problems faced in installing, operating and maintaining Rural

Telecommunications Systems are mainly due to the following reasons:

(1) Unstable/erratic power supply: In our country, we suffer from

unstable power supply. There is load shedding also. This is the fate of
the entire country. In urban areas also it is a problem. In rural areas
load shedding is more and power supply is still more unstable. This
poses a difficulty in running exchanges in rural areas, because
exchanges cannot run on batteries for long hours.

(2) Insufficient voltage or over voltage: There is also the problem of

insufficient voltage or over voltage, and to stabilize power at an even
level is difficult and costly.
(3) Extreme weather conditions specially in hilly areas: When it is
very hot, AC’s may not work. But AC’s are a must for the proper
functioning of exchanges and at times, in hilly areas, there may be
snowfalls causing short- circuiting and power failure.
(4) No proper roads: In rural areas we do not have proper roads, and
since OFCs are generally laid by the side of roads, laying down these
lines is a problem.
(5) Difficult terrain: In hilly areas, which are mostly rural, Microwave
UHF becomes impossible, because hills come between two sites. IDR
option is very expensive due to high cost of transponder bandwidth,
though it is sometimes left as the only feasible option.
(6) Less skilled man power: At present manpower of BSNL, especially
skilled manpower, is sufficient only to manage the existing telephone
system. To extend the system to rural areas we require greater
manpower.
(7) Out door network being predominantly over head: At present the
out door network is predominantly over head. Very often they snap,
causing difficulties to subscribers as well as to service providers. To
avoid this difficulty under grounding is a desirable option. But that is
expensive and also laying down is difficult because of non-availability
of roads.
(8) Problems of earthing of Exchanges: This problem is frequently
encountered especially in hilly areas. There due to stony ground it is difficult
to have a good earthing for the exchange. This leads to more faults of card
damage due to lightening. Also the turnaround time of card repair is more
due to long distances and scattered connections.
.
(9) Remote locations: When an exchange develops fault, it is difficult to
send experts to repair it, because of the remote locations of the
exchanges and thus the fault restoration time is more.