Pan-Indian service for Li-ion telecom batteries

A long-term partnership with Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL) demonstrates Saft’s commitment to the smooth operation of a national network of back-up batteries

Consistent high performance of Saft’s installed base

In 2013, RJIL placed an order for Saft’s lithium-ion (Li-ion) Evolion® batteries to act as the back-up power supplies for more than 10,000 base station sites installed across India.
To maintain its position as India’s leading telecom service provider, RJIL needs to ensure consistent high levels of performance across its infrastructure assets in the long term. To maximise the availability of its network, RJIL set the goal that battery modules should achieve 99.9 percent reliability.
To meet this demanding target, RJIL engaged Saft to oversee installation and commissioning of the batteries and has put in place a Service Level Agreement to cover maintenance during and after their warranty period.

Key features

• Installation and commissioning
• Installed base management
• Preventive and corrective maintenance
• Spare parts management
• Training

Key benefits

• Goal of 99.9 percent battery reliability
• Support throughout battery lifecycle
• Pan-Indian support locally
• Web portal enables tracking and reporting

Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd

RJIL is India’s first truly national telecom operator and is licensed to operate in all 22 of the country’s telecom service areas. A subsidiary of India’s largest private company, Reliance Industries, RJIL has a nationwide 4G/LTE service and a collection of web-based services that are designed to increase demand for the ultra-fast 4G network, such as remote healthcare and HDTV.

Life cycle support and training across installed base

Saft’s approach to service for RJIL’s installed base of 36,000 modules covers supervision of installation and commissioning, followed by trouble shooting, maintenance and repair during the warranty, and a Service Level Agreement (SLA) for maintenance after the warranty period.

Overall activity tracking across the Installed Base is centrally driven with a dedicated service team providing a technical support hotline.

Saft’s local network provides a fast response on demand and spare parts are supplied through one Maintenance Point (MP) per circle.

Dedicated training courses were delivered to RJIL’s Operation & Maintenance teams to help them optimise uptime.

A structured and dynamic set-up

Saft is providing local support through a network that covers the pan-Indian network as well as its Amco-Saft manufacturing facility in Bangalore.

RJIL operations staff can raise cases via the web, by phone or mail and can track progress through a web-based portal. A claim handling process gives RJIL a route to escalate issues to board level.

Saft’s vision for service

Saft has always been known for the quality and technology of its products. These are now complemented with quality and timely service of battery systems. Training, installation, maintenance, fleet management and e-supervision are all included under Saft’s growing ‘Service’ umbrella.