The changing world of standby batteries in telecoms applications

This paper considers three areas of activity that are directly affecting utilisation of standby batteries in european telecom applications. (1) Cell-phone licences agreements, (2) changes in centralised power and (3) harmonisation of standards. Cell-phone licence agreements: The change from Utopian optimism to concern and restraint has been well documented in the financial press. The paper will outline recent proposals from the Telecom Industry to resolve these problems, and will suggest possible implications to the future supply of VRLA Standby Power Batteries. Changes in centralised power: For many years now there has been a transfer of battery electrical capacity from Centralised Standby Power Batteries to “New Technology” batteries. This has arisen from the simple fact that power cannot be transferred to ‘End User connected equipment’ by means of ‘wireless’ or ‘optical fibre’ transmission. In addition, and more recently, the concept has been introduced that as modern network switches are in fact computers, they should be powered as computers, which has brought about the introduction of standard UPS power in contrast to the traditional low voltage dc power. Both these issues are explored to indicate the possible effects upon VRLA Centralised Power. Harmonisation of standards: In order to eliminate ‘restrictions to trade’ within the European region, harmonisation of industrial standards has been for many years a central platform of European legislation. However, in reality, the application of this concept to Telecoms Standby Power batteries has not been so successful, arising largely because it has been difficult to harmonise the requirements of users. These problems are now being addressed, and this paper will provide an update on recent standards development for VRLA Standby Power Batteries.