Telstra InfraCo trials AI to reduce reactive truck rolls for power issues

Telstra Infraco has revealed an AI project that is helping the telco reduce reactive truck rolls to deal with power issues, saving “thousands of dollars” for every roll avoided.

CEO Brendon Riley told a Telstra strategy day that the digital infrastructure operator’s “first major project” with AI “aims to reduce truck rolls for reactive power dispatches.”

“Previously, crews were often dispatched to sites where power restored itself shortly before or shortly after they got there,” Riley said.

“By leveraging power and site telemetrics, AI has cut these truck rolls by 10 percent so far.

“We execute around 25,000 truck rolls annually, so every one that we eliminate will save thousands of dollars.”

The project’s success to date meant that the AI would be reused and applied to truck rolls related to cooling systems used on InfraCo buildings and assets.

In addition to harnessing AI, InfraCo has also worked to make more of its maintenance activity preventative rather than reactive.

“Since the inception of InfraCo, we’ve been focused on shifting our maintenance regimes from reactive and emergency to preventative,” Riley said.

“We’ve shifted the mix from nearly 20 percent reactive to something which is just below 10 percent reactive. 

“With a reactive task costing thousands of dollars and a preventative task costing a couple of hundred dollars, this is an important cost management tool. 

“Additionally, more preventative maintenance results in fewer emergency callouts and a more reliable infrastructure business.”

Riley noted that land, power and cooling are all “currencies” in the digital infrastructure world.

He called out particular efforts that InfraCo has undertaken in the area of energy resilience, saying the telco had to deal with hundreds of thousands of mains power issues a year.

“Across our fixed sites annually, we lose mains power due to loss of supply from energy providers around 400,000 times per year,” Riley said.

“While only a small percentage of these outages impact customers, due to our current energy systems and diverse [connectivity] routes, major events are more challenging to manage. 

“While we have an extensive lifecycle replacement project underway to uplift batteries, generators, site and network design, we’re also deploying more standalone power systems, trialling new battery and generator technologies, and collaborating with energy partners on new joint power deployments and modernisation initiatives.”

Riley said Telstra presently has “a… power bank of over 160MW” across its data centre and other site real estate.

Many are edge sites and would be increasingly called upon between now and 2030, he noted, although some sites may not form part of InfraCo’s long-term plans.

“ For sites with no long-term use, we’ll progress a footprint modernisation and divestment agenda,” Riley said.

Riley is set to retire from InfraCo in a couple of months, with Microsoft A/NZ leader Steven Worrall taking over the chief executive role.