Dense Air scoops ‘small cell’ awards double
Dense Air was a multiple winner at the Small Cell Forum’s (SCF) 2019 Small Cell Awards, which recognise achievement in small cell technology innovation and best practice deployments.
Founded in 2017, Dense Air is the operating company set up within the Airspan Group with offices in Dublin. They picked up both the ‘Outstanding Innovation in Small Cell Business Case’ and ‘Social Impact – Promoting Small Cells for Social/Economic/Environmental Development’ accolades, the latter for its ground-breaking work designing and building a trial 5G small cell network for Dublin City Council (DCC) as part of its Smart Dublin programme, a standard bearer for smart city technology innovation.
“Small cell technology represents the future of broadband network design and internet connectivity, providing much needed capacity and coverage. The awards are testament to the impact that small cells are having on inhabitants and local mobile operators both in cities and remote areas,” said Paul Coffey, Head of Strategy. “I’d like to take the opportunity to thank our many other partners for their support throughout, including Alpha Wireless, who supplied the AW3170 panel antennas and the in-building magic box that were used in the DCC trial.”
Dublin is one of the first cities to adopt the multi operator private networks in the Smart Docklands district, which is home to 40,000 workers and 26,000 residents. The local community, building owners, occupiers, Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and their customers will all benefit from the wholesale service.
Coffey added, “Being able to use DCC’s street assets to mount the necessary equipment has meant that we’ve been able to significantly reduce cost and timeframes in delivering the small cell infrastructure. We’ve also created a best practice template for future city projects, as it has allowed us to address some of the challenges present, notably in the planning, regulatory, power provision and structural arenas. This will hold us in good stead moving forward.”
US multinational, Qualcomm and Korean wireless telecoms operator, SK Telecom, were also among the winners at the gala dinner ceremony, which was held at the Novotel London West on 21 May. There were 11 categories in total, including two special individual awards for contributions to SCF activities.
To find out more about Dense Air and SCF Small Cell awards click here.
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