LGC unveils multi-band indoor wireless solution

LGC Wireless said today it has produced an in-building cellular system capable of supporting multiple simultaneous frequency bands and multiple carriers.

Called Fusion SingleStar, the in-building system supports frequency bands from cellular all the way up to the 3G spectrum being auctioned by the FCC, allowing it to cover a carrier’s complete license portfolio through a single remote unit. LGC plans to offer the system to its current carrier customers and OEM partners worldwide, but LGC Vice President of Marketing John Spindler said the vendor envisions a new potential market for the product: the enterprises that occupy the buildings themselves.

Spindler said since the system supports multiple bands, an enterprise could build its own indoor coverage system and invite carriers to populate the in-building network. So an enterprise with two or more preferred wireless customers could invest in its own infrastructure instead of persuading a carrier to fork over the capital or signing a restrictive contract in exchange. Carriers would only hook into the SingleStar system—which LGC describes as an “RF sprinkler system”—at a single point and install a repeater or microcell on the premises, Spindler said.

”Increasingly enterprises are realizing the total reliance they now have on wireless,” Spindler said. “Clearly any carrier involved would have to participate, but this gives the enterprise further options.”

While enterprises will definitely mean another sales channel, Spindler said carriers will still be SingleStar’s main customer. If a carrier invests the capital until an in-building system, it’s unlikely to want to share that capacity with another operator, but there are still plenty of scenarios where a carrier would need the multi-band capabilities of the system, Spindler said. Most carriers have both PCS and cellular licenses in a market and would normally have to choose one to transmit in an in-building systems. Furthermore, many carriers have licenses at opposite ends of a single band, which could be deployed in unison. Finally carriers with separate data spectrum, such as in Europe and possible soon here in the U.S., could bring both data and voice in-building, Spindler said.