Telecommunication

Top five digital twin software companies for towers

October 25, 2025

Guest author: Or Hillel, Green Lamp

Digital twin technology is transforming cell tower management rapidly, enabling TowerCos and Carriers to survey, analyse, simulate, and plan infrastructure upgrades or changes with high levels of precision. From automating site audits to analysing equipment positioning for network optimisation and billing accuracy, digital twins enhance safety, reduce costs, and accelerate project delivery.

This article highlights the top five digital twin software platforms tailored for tower infrastructure in 2025, ranked for their innovation, tower-specific capabilities, and industry impact.

The value of digital twins for TowerCos

Digital twin technology empowers tower companies to make smarter, data-driven decisions. By creating engineering-grade virtual replicas of physical assets, operators gain visibility into structural conditions, mounting configurations, and environmental impact. This enables safer inspections, proactive maintenance, and better planning for upgrades or co-locations. As tower portfolios grow and diversify, digital twins offer unmatched scalability and transparency, driving operational efficiency and reducing the need for costly on-site visits.

Advantages of digital twin software

Digital twin software offers a host of advantages for stakeholders in the tower industry:

Centralised data collection: Aggregates visual, spatial, and structural data from entire portfolios into a single platform.
Automated inspections: Uses drones to capture high-precision tower data faster and reduce human risk.
High-resolution measurements: Enables precise measurements directly from 3D models.
Early issue detection: Identifies faults or deterioration before they escalate.
Remote coordination: Allows teams to review and manage assets from anywhere.
Cloud-based access: Facilitates real-time collaboration.
AI-enhanced insights: Delivers AI-driven analytics for smarter planning.
Improved compliance: Simplifies regulatory reporting and documentation.
Increase revenue: Discovery of hidden co-location opportunities

Top 5 digital twin software companies

1. vHive

vHive is recognised widely as a leading digital twin platform purpose-built for TowerCos and Mobile Network Operators. It combines autonomous drone capture with AI-driven analytics to deliver highly accurate site twins and CAD outputs. It automates full-site audits, revealing mount capacity, equipment alignment, and co-location potential, in a cloud platform built for portfolio scale. For TowerCos looking to maximise tenancy ratios, protect billing accuracy, and accelerate co-location, vHive is one of the most comprehensive and trusted solutions in the market.

2. OpenTower iQ (Bentley)

OpenTower iQ offers a comprehensive digital twin environment tailored to telecom infrastructure. It ingests legacy tower data, drone imagery, and PDFs to generate a unified 3D model. Users can perform automated defect detection, mount-capacity analysis, and as-built vs.as-designed comparisons, all in a 3D traversable twin.

3. Optelos

Optelos provides a unified drone-based tower inspection platform with advanced digital twin support. It captures point cloud and photogrammetric data, enabling desktop measurement of antenna azimuth and tower alignment, without needing site visits. The platform supports CAD comparison, customisable reports, and workflow standardisation in telecom operations.

4. Pointivo

Pointivo specialises in AI-powered telecom tower analytics. Its software aligns drone-collected data into highly accurate 3D twins, enabling dimensionally precise structural assessments. Users gain insights into tower geometry, defect localisation, and site optimisation, all supported by a cloud portal built for telecom asset teams.

5. Hammer Missions

Hammer Missions equips drone operators with 3D twin creation targeted at tower measurements. It enables capturing height, azimuth, and structural details with precision, delivering robust twin reconstructions for analysis. The software integrates mapping workflows with tower-specific inspections, ideal for compliance and structural auditing.

FAQs

What is a digital twin in the context of telecom towers?

A digital twin in the tower industry is a virtual replica of a physical tower, created using drone imagery and 3D modelling. It reflects the tower’s current structure and environment, allowing engineers and operators to inspect, plan, and monitor assets without being on-site.

How do digital twins improve tower maintenance?

Digital twins improve tower maintenance by giving operators a precise, up-to-date view of structural conditions, antenna alignment, and installed equipment. Instead of relying on manual site visits or outdated records, maintenance teams can remotely verify corrosion, mounting integrity, or unauthorised changes before they become service risks. By tracking changes over time, operators can prioritise interventions, plan technician visits more efficiently, and avoid costly or unnecessary climbs, ensuring network reliability and regulatory compliance.

What data is needed to build a digital twin?

To build a tower digital twin, high-resolution drone imagery is captured from multiple angles and processed using photogrammetry to generate a 3D model. Visual data is then enriched with site metadata like antenna type, azimuth, height, tilt, and mounting configuration. Unlike LiDAR-based models, telecom twins focus on accurately representing installed equipment and structural geometry to support audits, capacity planning, and as-built verification.

Are digital twins useful for regulatory compliance?

Yes, digital twins help document tower conditions, track modifications, and provide accurate measurement data for reports. This assists in meeting regulatory requirements and simplifies audit preparation, especially when dealing with large tower portfolios.

How does drone automation support digital twin creation?

Drone automation enables consistent, repeatable data capture with minimal human intervention, ensuring the same flight paths and camera angles on every site. This repeatability not only speeds up inspections, but also improves measurement accuracy, capturing the precise geometry and orientation of equipment needed to generate reliable digital twins at portfolio scale.

Can digital twins help reduce operational costs?

Yes. Digital twins reduce operational spending by eliminating repeat site visits, preventing unnecessary climbs, and avoiding engineering rework caused by outdated records. They also protect CAPEX by providing accurate as-built data before upgrade projects, thus avoiding overbuilding, miscalculations, or structural surprises. By validating installed equipment against tenant contracts and revealing true co-location capacity, digital twins prevent billing leakage and accelerate revenue decisions, ultimately strengthening both OPEX efficiency and CAPEX control.

What challenges come with adopting digital twin software?

The main challenges are less about technology and more about operational readiness. TowerCos must align internal teams around a single source of truth, replace legacy site data, and adapt workflows that currently rely on manual surveys or contractor reports. Establishing data governance and training field teams to trust digital models can take time. However, once integrated, digital twins streamline planning, maintenance, and tenant operations – turning the initial shift into long-term operational advantage.

Who benefits most from tower digital twin technology?

Digital twins are especially valuable for TowerCos and Mobile Network Operators managing large, evolving portfolios. TowerCos use them to verify installed equipment, assess structural integrity, uncover co-location potential, and protect billing accuracy. MNOs rely on them to plan upgrades, audit lease compliance, and eliminate costly site revisits.

Engineering teams, field crews, and commercial managers all benefit from a shared, accurate view of each site, reducing climbs, preventing delays, and aligning decisions in departments.