Large-scale telecom tower data monitoring with RUT956 LTE routers

Highlights

✔ Telecom tower expansion into remote areas requires connectivity and scalable infrastructure monitoring to maintain network uptime and control operating costs. 

✔ To support PhilTower’s network expansion, PowerX implemented a scalable architecture that standardises data collection, integrates existing systems, and enables cost-efficient monitoring across geographically distributed tower sites. 

✔ Teltonika RUT956 4G routers with multiple industrial interfaces provide reliable cellular connectivity, network redundancy with dual SIM, and automatic failover. These features enabled seamless integration and large-scale deployment across remote tower locations. 

Standardising power monitoring across remote, off-grid telecom tower sites 

The telecom tower industry is undergoing rapid expansion, with the global market expected to reach USD 64.7 billion by 2035. To support growing mobile demand, operators are increasingly deploying base stations in remote and hard-to-reach locations. At many of these sites, access to reliable grid power is limited or unavailable, and extending electricity infrastructure is often economically unfeasible.  

As a result, towers must operate on diesel generators, batteries, or hybrid energy systems, where power is both costly and operationally constrained. In these conditions, maintaining power availability, controlling energy consumption, and ensuring infrastructure reliability become critical to sustaining network uptime and managing operating costs. 

To manage these risks effectively, tower operators require continuous visibility into power systems and passive infrastructure. Real-time data is essential for detecting faults early, reducing energy waste, preventing outages, and planning maintenance proactively. However, achieving reliable monitoring at scale across geographically dispersed sites presents significant technical and commercial challenges.  

Remote environments often have limited connectivity options, harsh operating conditions, and high deployment and maintenance costs, making traditional monitoring approaches difficult to standardise and sustain. 

In the Philippines, where tower sites are distributed across multiple islands and remote regions, these challenges are further amplified. As part of a broader digital transformation initiative, telecommunication infrastructure expert PhilTower partnered with PowerX, energy infrastructure optimisation specialists. 

When deployment expanded to additional sites and new builds, it became clear that PhilTower required a flexible multi-vendor approach to hardware supporting both its capital and operational cost-efficiency needs. A scalable and cost-efficient LTE router that could operate reliably in remote environments and deliver consistent data flow across the entire network was needed. 

Topology

RUT956 4G router as multi-interface connectivity hub for scalable tower deployments 

When PhilTower decided to expand monitoring across its tower portfolio, the aim was to improve operational visibility and better control operating costs. To support this initiative, the company partnered with PowerX, whose purpose-built, end-to-end operational-AI platform standardises data collection across geographically distributed sites and delivers AI-driven insights, optimisations and automated workflows for tower infrastructure. 

PowerX selected Teltonika RUT956 industrial LTE routers as the on-site connectivity hub for the deployment. Installed at each tower location, the 4G router enables reliable communication and serves as a central point for collecting operational data from critical power systems, including battery banks, generators, and rectifiers. 

Designed for complex field deployments, the RUT956 router combines cellular, Wi-Fi and wired connectivity options in a single device, enabling flexible integration at tower sites. Dual SIM with automatic failover provides network redundancy and helps maintain continuous connectivity in the event of operator outages.  

Multiple interfaces, including Ethernet, RS232, and RS485, allow the router to connect to a wide range of equipment, while configurable I/O and advanced RutOS operating system, customised with PowerX’s proprietary firmware, facilitate equipment control, automation, and event notifications. 

For instance, battery banks and generators are connected over RS485, where Modbus RTU is used to retrieve detailed performance parameters. Rectifiers are integrated through Ethernet with operational status and alarms obtained using SNMP.  

After being collected from the connected equipment, operational data from each tower site is transmitted to the PowerX platform over the cellular network using the MQTT protocol. The continuous data flow provides real-time visibility into the performance and status of power systems across the network, enabling centralised monitoring and analysis. 

With the architecture in place, our partner deployed Teltonika 4G routers across 218 tower sites, bringing each location online and fully connected to the PowerX platform. The rollout established reliable connectivity and consistent data collection across the network while reducing monitoring costs per site. Based on these results, PhilTower is now extending monitoring to approximately 700 additional sites as part of its ongoing network expansion.  

If you’re planning a large-scale 4G router deployment for distributed infrastructure, contact us and let’s find the best fit for your project.