Indoor Mobile Boosting for Global Real Estate Occupiers
The indoor mobile boosting industry is notoriously difficult to navigate for property owners, developers, and tenants, especially for those who occupy a global estate. Standardising building technology to deliver a seamless and consistent experience for staff and visitors while keeping an eye out for the next requirement is no easy task.
The radio spectrum used for cellular is licensed and purchased at a very high cost by the Mobile Network Operators (MNO’s). As a result, the industry is heavily regulated and each country around the world has different practices around approved technology, design criteria and standards, both for their national coverage and for connecting to the dedicated indoor mobile coverage systems that enterprises increasingly require. Identifying the right delivery partner for these systems, one with genuine global capability and know how, is crucial to success.
The UK and America have pretty much pioneered the idea of ‘neutral hosts’; a concept whereby a specialist independent company designs, installs, manages, and operates a single infrastructure (for indoor or outdoor use) to deliver mobile signal coverage for multiple MNO’s. The Joint Operator Technical Specification (JOTS) forum in the UK has played a crucial role in devising a standard and agreed upon practice to ensure these systems are commissioned correctly.
However, JOTS is currently still a UK innovation, the idea of which has not yet been formally adopted anywhere else in the world. That said, increasing demand for multi-operator indoor mobile coverage solutions is driving MNO’s to come on board with neutral host projects in a growing number of countries.
There are many logistical and technical hurdles to overcome in delivering indoor mobile coverage to an entire global real estate portfolio. It is vital that the partner you chose for such an endeavour understands all of the following:
- The local MNO’s approved & favoured technologies: Passive Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS), Active DAS, Small Cell, Off-air Repeaters
- Approved technology vendors: Each boosting technology will have multiple vendors and approval in one country does not mean they are approved in another, even if the MNO is part of the same group
- Local available radio spectrum
- Local MNO design criteria
- Local MNO submission process
- Who pays to connect to the MNO? The building owner, tenant or MNO?
- The Operation & Maintenance standards stipulated by the local MNO
- Knowing the local special projects and radio teams. This point is so important! Your indoor cellular partner must have a relationship with the local MNO’s and their appointed radio teams to approve designs and connect to any given indoor boosting project
- Understanding the timescales to go live. There is a great deal of MNO engagement required when it comes to installing a mobile boosting solution, so understanding the typical timescales involved is crucial in order to make sure you deliver on the promise.
Vilicom are experts within this field having delivered 1,500 projects in over 20 countries across 4 continents. Our consultants can guide your organisation through local telecoms regulation, getting equipment into the chosen country, technical and compliant design, submission to the MNO’s, MNO approval, installation, project management and on-going operation and management.
Whether you’re a tenant, landlord, developer, or facilities manager, Vilicom can help you deliver the critical indoor cellular services your enterprise needs for your entire global real estate portfolio.
Vilicom: Unleashing Mobile Connectivity.
Contact:
Liam Graham – Senior Sales Manager UK - Liam.Graham@vilicom.com +44 7597 800622
Gearoid Collins – Director of Sales and Marketing UK - Gearoid.Collins@vilicom.com +44 7407 810619