HetNet News: Municipal Wi-Fi and public safety DAS

Bay Area launches free Hotspot 2.0 Wi-Fi
Silicon Valley residents and visitors are taking advantage of free public Wi-Fi thanks to a partnership created by Ruckus Wireless, the City and County of San Francisco, the City of San Jose and Global Reach Technology. The group has launched the first large-scale municipal Hotspot 2.0 service. Hotspot 2.0 enables seamless handoff from cellular to Wi-Fi networks without the need for a user to enter a password.
Once a user has elected to join one of the Bay Area Wi-Fi networks, Hotspot 2.0-capable devices can automatically and securely connect whenever the user enters the service area. Each person who elects to use the Hotspot 2.0 service for either city’s Wi-Fi network is issued a credential without having to provide any information such as an email address or name. Many devices can be automatically authenticated by their SIM cards, by a security certificate, or by a user name and password.
“People want their devices to automatically connect to trusted Wi-Fi networks whenever they are in range, and to use strong encryption as well,” said Marc Touitou, Chief Information Officer for the City of San Francisco. “This is precisely what we have achieved.”
Ruckus Wireless CEO Selina Lo has said that mobile operators would be wise to pursue public Wi-Fi deployments, in order to gain access to the most desirable outdoor sites. She points out that sites secured for Wi-Fi hotspots today could be used for small cells in the future.
TE Connectivity announces new public safety DAS solution
The new solution supports supports public safety and first responder frequencies in the VHF/UHF/700/800/900/TETRA bands on a
single system. The company says it will support public safety workers both indoors and out.
TE Connectivity developed its new public safety DAS solution in partnership with Fiber-Span. Fiber-Span designs, manufactures and markets fiber optics for wireless and RF signals. It markets several key tools for use in building public safety networks, including bi-directional amplifiers (also referred to as headend repeater units), integrated headend units, fiber transceiver units, and remote fiber optic repeater units.
CommScope buys into UK small cell market
CommScope has acquired two British businesses that should give it a leg up in the country’s emerging small cell market. The North Carolina company has purchased two business units from Alifabs. The design and construction unit supplies operators with cellular monopoles, smaller streetworks towers and tower solutions. The cabinets and ancillaries group designs and manufactures enclosures.
CommScope says that Alifabs has long-standing relationships with all UK wireless operators and it expects to leverage Alifabs’ capabilities in supporting metro cell and small cell site acquisitions for operators. “Alifabs will complement our efforts to help operators roll out LTE while continuing to manage and optimize their 2G and 3G networks,” said Morgan Kurk, senior vice president and wireless segment leader at CommScope.
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