Stadiums, cities, companies, colleges, hospitals and hotels are all clamoring for the best possible wireless coverage, creating more demand for investment than the carriers can meet. Carriers have to prioritize their investments, and their first choices are often driven by major public events. Networks in event areas get special attention, and the results linger long after the event has ended.
Parts of downtown Austin, Texas, have 3 times as much LTE capacity as they had last year, according to Verizon Wireless. The carrier added “XLTE” equipment to Austin-area cell sites in advance of this year’s SXSW music and interactive festival. XLTE refers to Verizon Wireless’ LTE service that leverages the carrier’s 1.7/2.1 GHz spectrum.
LTE capacity at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis has almost doubled this year, thanks to AT&T’s upgrades to its distributed antenna system ahead of the NCAA men’s final four playoff games. The AT&T DAS also serves the nearby Indiana Convention Center. The carrier also invested in its downtown Indianapolis Wi-Fi network, optimizing hot spots near city center locations which consistently see high customer traffic and mobile data use.
Glendale, Ariz., got a network boost from all four major carriers by hosting the 2015 Super Bowl. Crown Castle was the neutral host DAS provider: The tower company built a distributed antenna system in the stadium and surrounding area, then leased space on that system to the four major U.S. carriers. The Crown Castle DAS covers the University of Phoenix stadium, surrounding outdoor venues and nearby hotels.
“We had a tremendous system that we built and then leased to all four carriers, and that’s permanent – it’s there now from now on in Glendale,” said Crown Castle CEO Ben Moreland.
Infrastructure investment has always been a reason for cities to host major events and recruit sports franchises. The dollars a municipality spends to create a public venue are often matched or surpassed by private capital that funds new and improved infrastructure. Wireless infrastructure is becoming a bigger part of this picture, and some of the investment in public venues is benefitting surrounding areas as well.
“The designs are moving toward delivering high-performance multi-operator service to these areas and systems that are capable of combining indoor and outdoor coverage and capacity with options to conceal remote units and antennas in the streetscape,” said Todd Landry of JMA Wireless. “The core may be a stadium, but the investment is also in the surrounding city area that includes restaurants, hotels, theaters and outdoor gathering areas.”
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