While carrier-led deployments account for more than 47% of in-building wireless deployments today and vendor-led deployments sit close to only 10%, third-party/neutral hosts control close to 43% of overall market deployment revenue and are set to grow that share to over 54% by 2020. ABI Research anticipates that the industry will see a larger concentration of neutral hosts funding enterprise projects in the years ahead.
As carriers transfer assets to neutral host companies, such as Crown Castle, carrier-led ownership will decline worldwide, with tower companies taking on the bulk of the in-building wireless business. They forecasts that carrier-led deployment share will drop to less than 29% by 2020, with third-party/neutral host share increasing to hold a majority share and venue-led to 17%. Enterprises are funding more in-building wireless projects on their own, as they see the associated benefits, including increased employee productivity, customer satisfaction, and higher property and lease revenues.
The benefits to the enterprise include complete control of the Distributed Antenna System (DAS) network, their ability to customize the DAS network, and the rights to engage with a third-party/neutral host that will operate, manage, monitor, and repair the DAS network as needed. Challenges will occur however, and venues can expect to work to overcome several obstacles including capital constraints and limited resources.
These findings are part of ABI Research’s In-Building Systems Services, which includes research reports, market data, insights, and competitive assessments.
