DEVELOPMENT OF A SKILL-BASED STRATEGY FOR OPTIMAL MAINTENANCE OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT

Abstract

Increase in innovation and technological progress required some strategy in the maintenance of telecommunications equipment and this will reduce unnecessary spending and purchasing of new equipment of the same type due to the improper maintenance of the former equipment. Development of a skill-based strategy for optimal maintenance of telecommunications equipment is basically on Base Transceiver Station (BTS) which is critical telecommunication equipment. The BTS failure results in the calls dropped during the communication process between two telephone users. Some of the components of the BTS are Transceiver (TRX), Power Supply Subsystem (PSS), Boards Unit (BU), Alarms System, Fans and Air Boxes (ASF&B), Radio Frequency Antenna and Feeder (RFA&F). These components tend to develop faults as a result of long term usage, consequently, results to operation failure. The maintenance and repair of these components required the skills of relevant engineering personnel. Relevant data on the existing telecommunication equipment were obtained from Federal Ministry of Communications Technology (FMCT), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), NITEL, HUAWEI, and other stake holders in the telecommunication sectors in Nigeria through personal interview and administration of questionnaire. The maintenance requirements of Base Transceiver Station (BTS) components, such as Transceiver (TRX), Power Supply Subsystem (PSSS), Radio Frequency Antenna and Feeder (RFAF), Board Units (BU), Alarms System, Fans and Boxes (ASFB) were identified from the investigation. The critical skills requirements were also identified namely; technical, operation, evaluation and monitoring skills. These skills were analytically classified as electrical, telecom, computer, industrial and electronics skills. The maintenance system model based on the relationships between the identified skills and criticality of the components of BTS was carried out by using a skill upgrading control system. The performance evaluation results showed that the transceiver (TRX) component was the most critical among the components of the BTS