Small Cell Forum Announces Enterprise Advisory Council to Drive Ubiquitous Cellular Coverage

Small Cell Forum (SCF) has launched its Enterprise Advisory Council (EAC), focused on deepening industry ties, and working alongside businesses and institutions to help solve the issue of poor cellular coverage.

The Council is a collaborative effort to bring together the Forum’s cellular industry members and businesses to provoke discussion, articulate the benefits of digitized enterprise networks and drive small cell deployments.

SCF have already begun a targeted engagement campaign with the hospitality sector, the first in a series of outreach programmes targeting specific vertical markets. Research indicates that as many as two thirds of business travellers say they will not return to a hotel or venue with patchy or inadequate wireless access.

The public take for granted that they can use their cellular devices wherever they go and become frustrated where there is poor coverage. Small cells offer a robust, secure and cost effective way to provide comprehensive high-speed indoor voice and data coverage that is as easy for venues to install and manage as Wi-Fi.

“With over 1,200,000 rooms in more than 6,200 properties worldwide, offering an exceptional mobile experience to our guests is critical to our success,” said Alex Ajdelsztajn of EAC member, Marriott International. “We are delighted to be working with the Small Cell Forum and its members to ensure the industry continues to evolve with the customer experience in mind.”

The Enterprise Advisory Council founding members are commercial real estate services advisers Camden Living and CBRE, General Motors, Grange Hotels, healthcare giant Kaiser Permanente, Marriott International, Texas A&M University and WeWork, a global shared office provider.

“Whether it’s notspots frustrating guests on the upper levels of a hotel, or a lack of connectivity on factory floors, poor or patchy cellular coverage is a major issue across all enterprises, and increasingly this lack of access to reliable critical communications will directly impact organizations’ bottom lines,” said David Orloff, Chair of Small Cell Forum.

“SCF is in a unique position to bring the cellular operator and vendor community together with major players from across the enterprise to work to resolve this issue to the benefit of everyone.”

SCF has identified case studies of small cells in enterprise delivering consistent, high quality mobile voice and data services with access to location-based services. Examples of successful deployments include hotels, resorts, airports, retail malls and commercial and industrial facilities.