Tower 42

Case Study:

Following the terrorist attack on Moorgate in the 1990’s the building underwent substantive refurbishment. As part of the growth in demand for satellite delivered signals the Management of Tower 42 examined the possibility of installing a centrally controlled satellite dish farm to cater for the tenants and as a means of controlling the limited roof space and making revenue.

How do we get this system to pay for itself or even return a profit?
How do we avoid chaos on the roof with 42 floors of clients most of whom requiring satellites of their own?
What can we install that will be future proof?

The solution came after European Satellites Ltd was commissioned by Tower 42 Management to investigate the options available. The result was the
installation of a VDF for terrestrial TV, satellite TV and data in IF format.

There are 33,000 potential access points in this system spanning all the 42 floors. Tower 42 Management has adopted a connection fee strategy for tenants wishing to access the satellite feeds. For each connection made a fixed fee is charged per point required. An annual maintenance fee accompanies this access. This allows them to assign a proportion of the costs of the system directly to those who use it. The system has paid for itself more than once. Every time an existing tenant vacates the new tenant pays a new connection fee and the cycle continues.

In practice, European Satellites carries out the connection to the system on behalf of Tower 42 Management. Upon receipt of a formal request from Tower 42 Management the tenant is connected to the IF system allowing them access to all the feeds from the dish farm. The control is held by Tower 42 Management over the connections. This is managed by frequent audits at the risers to cross check the authorized connections with any others that may have been attached.
Unauthorized connections are decommissioned by European Satellites. These are notified to Tower 42 Management who takes the issue up with the tenant in question. Should the client require the connection the charge is applied and the connection officially re-established and documented. This has proved to be a very successful way of maintaining the incoming revenue streams and providing a great quality service to the tenants.

How is the cost transferred to tenants?
As part of the revenue incoming to Tower 42 Management a pricing structure was adopted to project the return on investment from the initial investment of the system. Although we are not at liberty to divulge the exact model utilized the next section offers suggestions for the management of such a system.

How are the fees calculated?
How can the cost of such a system be justified?



1/ The initial connection fee per position. 2/ The ongoing maintenance charges.
Without reiterating the obvious benefits to both the landlord and tenant it is important to bear in mind that such a landlord provided system will bring a order to the tenants’ requirements for access to satellite and terrestrial signals and afford the landlord the luxury of offering a quality service potentially a differentiating factor in the decision by potential tenants to lease office space / apartments.

Practical example spelled out…
Connection / Annual Maintenance fee calculator:
Presume that the system is medium sized affording access to 20 floors and the cost for the installation of this system was X Euros.
Presume an 80% uptake of the system by tenants.
Presume that the landlord had administrative fees and a required margin for management of this system of Y Euros.
The model adopted could be where X = Initial Installation cost or Annual Maintenance Agreement Fee.