Recent years have seen an explosion in office developments at new business parks around the world. These modern sites frequently house some of the most dynamic, expanding businesses – and nearly all of them have demanding communications requirements. They represent lucrative opportunities for mobile operators that can get their services right.
Business parks. Image from Picocells: the applications handbook
Many business parks are found on the edge of towns and cities where network coverage is poor or even non-existent, because the location is far from the nearest macro BTS. Customers will simply not subscribe to a service if their phones do not work where they do.
Frequently in the more distant locations, new macro deployment is uneconomic – there may not be enough traffic to warrant building new cells. And even if there is a case for building out the macro network, it will generally not be possible to do this quickly.
Picocells are a simple way to fill coverage holes and signal strength challenges:
- Deployment of picocells is fast and unobtrusive.
- Provides high quality in-building coverage that meets any customer requirements.
- Customers feel the operator has responded directly to their needs, building confidence and long-term loyalty.
- Unlike DAS systems, the capital cost of picocells is not lost if the customer moves or changes suppliers.
- All new sites will have modern fixed line infrastructure offering accessible broadband for backhaul.