The Small Cell Forum (SCF) has published what it’s describing as a comprehensive guide to assist building owners and tenants in solving the issues of poor and sub-standard cellular connectivity on their premises.
The new guide, dubbed “Options for Indoor Cellular”, helps organizations of all sizes as well as landlords and tenants to understand what they can do today to improve mobile connectivity on their property.
According to the forum, poor quality indoor wireless coverage is a major problem in all types of buildings, whether caused by building materials and techniques, which can have the side effect of blocking mobile signals, or geographical location. Cellular is complementary to other technologies, such as Wi-Fi, and offers connectivity that is more secure and reliable for a wide range of applications, the Small Cell Forum said.
The guide provides an overview of the range of options available to help ensure high-quality and secure connectivity. It includes comprehensive case studies of deployments around the world at sites as diverse as hospitals, remote oil and gas plants, ports, stadiums and corporate headquarters.
Issues such as poor or lack of signal in apartments, offices, venues, hotels and conference centers can cause considerable frustration, and research has shown that residential and enterprise tenants are increasingly inclined to avoid properties with poor indoor coverage. This in turn reduces yields and increases churn for landlords. Despite a clear need, to date it has been difficult for organizations to know what they can do to improve mobile signal on their premises, according to the Small Cell Forum.
“Mobile devices have become essential assets in day-to-day life and drivers for communication and productivity in the workplace – especially during these COVID-19 times. The need has never been greater for quality, high speed, reliable mobile coverage inside residential, commercial and mixed-use premises, irrespective of the environmental and geographic constraints,” said Prabhakar Chitrapu, chair of Small Cell Forum. “For the wide range of deployment environments, from single shops and medium-sized offices, to large enterprises and industries, or very large stadiums and shopping malls, we have put together this guide to clearly lay out in detail the solutions which are available today that can dramatically improve the indoor cellular experience. We hope this document will be a go-to guide for various stakeholders, such as building owners and IT personnel.”
