Real estate giant CBRE teams with Mosaik to improve in-building wireless

CBRE Group, which bills itself as the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm, said it inked an agreement with Mosaik to offer its customers a new tool they can use to more accurately measure their in-building wireless systems – and improve them if necessary.

“We cannot emphasize enough the importance of in-building coverage. When individuals have poor in-building network experiences, it impacts their overall view of a property,” said Cris Kimbrough, managing director of Telecom Advisory Services for CBRE, in a release. “We want to raise awareness with our partners and customers that potential buyers and lessees require reliable mobile networks when considering commercial real estate properties, and we feel confident that this new service will give them the information they need to be successful.”

The teaming between the two companies is an acknowledgement by the real estate industry of the growing importance of in-building wireless services. Indeed, CBRE itself noted that fully 80 percent of data usage now occurs inside buildings, and such locations are notoriously difficult for wireless operators to reach with wireless signals that may not be able to travel through the glass, steel and concrete of most modern office buildings.

And it’s a market that could generate significant investment, according to research firm ABI. The firm earlier this year predicted the in-building wireless market will more than double in revenue by 2020, to fully $9 billion. The company said North American activity will drive the overall market, with Europe and Asia-Pacific regions working to pick up the pace during 2016.

“Sports venues, transportation and healthcare will continue to be the verticals that attract the most DAS investment, with shopping malls and hospitality coming in at a close second place,” added ABI analyst Nick Marshall in a release.

“We cannot emphasize enough the importance of in-building coverage. When individuals have poor in-building network experiences, it impacts their overall view of a property,” CBRE’s Kimbrough said in the release. CBRE counts 70,000 employees and 400 offices worldwide, and offers services ranging from facilities, transaction and project management to property management and appraisal and valuation.

Under CBRE’s new teaming with Mosaik, CBRE will offer Mosaik’s Signal Insights application, a service designed to measure and evaluate cellular and Wi-Fi networks. “Not only can building owners better set their leasing partners’ expectations, but they can improve retention by improving the customer experience,” CBRE said in a release, adding that Mosaik’s application, combined with CBRE’s 20-year-old Telecommunications Services Group, can measure indoor and outdoor signals, throughput quality and other wireless network characteristics.

Of course, CBRE and Mosaik aren’t the only companies targeting the in-building wireless opportunity. CommScope, Nokia and others – including wireless carriers and tower companies themselves – offer extensive in-building products and services aimed at pushing wireless signals into offices and other structures where wireless users are spending their time.

For more:
- see this release

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