Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Wireless: The 1-2 Punch- Blanket Coverage

From: Marcelrf <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 28 Mar 2004 14:12:43 -0500

Wireless: The 1-2 Punch- Blanket Coverage

In-building wireless increases connectivity,
sets stage for wireless data.

Sean Buckley, Staff Editor

Wireless carriers are at a crossroads: Faced with an ever-
consolidating market, WNP (wireless number portability) mandates
and customer churn, rolling out compelling services with a 
consistent connection has never been more pressing.

To meet these challenges, wireless carriers and building owners
are teaming to "wire" buildings for coverage. Key drivers of this
in-building wireless phenomenon are increased voice quality as
well as the emergence of wireless data networks, i.e., GSM/GPRS
(Cingular, AT&T, T-Mobile), CDMA 1XRTT (Sprint) and EVDO
(Verizon), not to mention Wi-Fi. Nextel has even developed
an integrated Wi-Fi/cellular solution with RadioFrame Networks.

Ed Rerisi, vice president of research for Allied Business 
Intelligence, says growth in mobile data and reliance on connectivity 
are contributing to the growth of the in-building market, which ABI 
predicts will reach at least $1 billion by the end of the decade.

"Some of the emerging solutions can handle both cellular and Wi-Fi,
so with a single installation you can handle multiple wireless 
services," said Rerisi. "An in-building solution enables carriers to 
differentiate themselves with superior coverage, but the market is 
not growing in leaps and bounds because only so many buildings need 
to be wired."

Cooperative Hosts

Because labor and maintenance for in-building wireless can be
expensive, a neutral host model that engages multiple carriers to 
cover a specific building could be a cost-effective alternative.
As its name implies, the neutral host model brings in a third-party 
integrator to negotiate the terms with an in-building vendor and then 
operators. The neutral host model can be configured in two ways: A 
building owner can deploy a multi-carrier system to support multiple 
wireless operators or work with a third party to pre-wire the 
building and then install side-by-side in-building systems dedicated 
to specific carriers.

Firmly in the multi-carrier camp is InnerWireless. The vendor, whose
coax-based InnerMobile multi-carrier system can support multiple air
interfaces, has garnered agreements with all of the major carriers. 
Its buildings include Rockefeller Center in New York, where it 
carries AT&T Wireless, Sprint, T-Mobile and other major carriers. In 
addition, the vendor recently struck a deal with Sears Tower in 
Chicago, and according to company CEO Ed Cantwell, there are more 
deals to come.

Across the globe, LGC has squared a deal to serve Malaysian capital
Kuala Lumpur with a multi-carrier InterReach Unison system in 
conjunction with ENC Senderian Behrad and the largest GSM operators - 
Celcom, DiGi and Maxis.

ABI's Rerisi argues that changes in the neutral host model and recent
wins from those vendors are examples of the model's success. "In the 
past, there was a huge land grab in airports and convention centers, 
where the in-building player wanted a larger share of the carrier's 
revenue pie, which ultimately backfired," says Rerisi. "Carriers want 
to maintain as much control over their networks as possible, so they 
can guarantee QoS - not use someone else's network or be strong armed 
by the in-building player to provide a greater share of the revenue. 
Now, neutral host model players are being more generous in sharing 
revenue, and it's a more compelling business model."

However, other carriers such as Bell Mobility have been reluctant to
engage in this model. "We feel there's not really room for someone 
else to sell the service as we own the property rights to the 
spectrum in a specific territory," said Almis Ledas, Bell Mobility's 
vice president of corporate development. "Granted, the building 
owners own the property rights, which is something we would pay to 
gain access to, but we have been reluctant to get into any revenue-
sharing agreement because there's no room in the margin."

The Right Size

The approach to in-building wireless is never one-size-fits-all. After
identifying a coverage problem, a carrier's first plan of attack is to
utilize the already-deployed macro network to penetrate a building 
with coverage. A wireless operator can tune the macro network by 
pointing its antennas up, whereby the signal will then 'bleed in' to 
that building. If a cell does not exist nearby, but a large demand 
exists, carriers will put up a new site to fill that hole.

While a macro network 'bleed in' may be an optimal approach in some
situations, it may not be as optimal for common public areas such as
sporting arenas and shopping malls. In those situations, carriers 
have the option of deploying carrier-owned systems ranging from self-
configuring to the more complex engineered RF-based systems. Although 
vendor solutions may integrate elements as SDR (software-defined 
radio), fiber interfaces or adaptive repeaters, there are essentially 
two approaches:

-- Passive DAS (distributed antenna systems): Utilizes coax cable or
radiating cable with various splitters, couplers and antennas that 
will distribute a signal throughout a building (Andrew and 
InnerWireless).

-- Active DAS: Can be deployed in several modes - hybrid multimode
fiber with Cat 4/5 wiring (LGC); analog, single-mode fiber (Andrew); 
digital fiber (ADC); or Cat 5 (RadioFrame).

The pure-play in-building vendors will not be the only benefactors of
this opportunity. Given labor costs to install such systems, incumbent
vendors and systems integrators will play an increasingly important 
role. Lucent, for one, in addition to offering a compact version of 
its Modular Cell BTS 4.0 base station, has developed a suite of 
professional services that can support not only Lucent equipment but 
also that from partners.

At the end of the day, no matter the approach, the three factors that
carry the most weight are cost of deployment, carrier ROI and customer
satisfaction. "As the network grows, we tend to zoom in on where 
people work, and based on customer feedback, we do what we can to 
quickly resolve their problems," said Rob Fleissner, director of the 
AT&T Wireless technical communications group. "Our plan of attack is 
to keep all options open and treat issues with the most cost-
effective and rapid resolution for our customers."

Sean Buckley is staff editor at Telecommunications®
sbuckley @ telecommagazine.com

http://www.telecommagazine.com/default.asp?journalid=3&func=articles&page=0403t07_02&year=2004&month=3

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