Having a dedicated indoor cellular system installed in an enterprise space can raise property values on average 28 percent.
That's according to a study from Coleman Parkes, commissioned by CommScope, that last year interviewed 600 building managers, facilities managers, real estate managers and architects across the U.S. and Europe.
"People are obsessed with their mobile phones and see indoor wireless coverage as important as having access to water and electricity," said Ispran Kandasamy, global leader of building solutions at CommScope, in a statement. "The time has come for building professionals to step forward and take ownership for connecting their tenants to mobile networks."
But opinions vary on who responsibility it is to improve cellular service indoors. Of the respondents, 22 percent thought building managers should ensure mobile coverage, 35 percent pointed to network operators, and 26 percent pointed to IT managers, according to the study.
As far as what's holding up indoor cellular system deployments, 35 percent said it was the cost of the network, 19 percent said it was the complexity of the technology, and 11 percent cited a lack of skilled workers to manage it.
If this study reveals misgivings about deploying indoor mobile connection solutions like distributed antenna systems (DAS), projected growth in the market says that those doubts could dissipate over the next few years.
According to recent numbers from ABI Research, the in-building wireless market is expected to top $9 billion by 2020. The report pegs the U.S. as a key growth driver for the market, although much of that growth could occur in public commercial deployments and not necessarily in the enterprise.
"North America will continue to be the region with the most Distributed Antenna System spend," said Nick Marshall, research director at ABI Research. "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."
For more:
- see this CommScope press release
- see this ABI Research press release
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