In-building wireless investments may top $9B by 2024 - report

The distributed antenna systems (DAS) market has been in flux for a while now, and a new report from Mobile Experts breaks down the shift from carrier DAS to enterprise DAS—and the impact new solutions are having on the market.

DAS has been weakening in the recent past, but the next few years will see key transformations as 5G materializes, according to the research firm. The analysts say that while traditional DAS declines, in-building wireless investments may top $9 billion by 2024.

"In the midst of LTE and 5G transitions, the DAS industry is faced with a slew of challenges, not all of them surmountable," said Kyung Mun, principal analyst, in a statement. "But while traditional DAS will hold steady in specific large venues, the overall market for In-Building Wireless continues to grow and evolve. We expect IBW to incorporate new indoor solutions that can make the transition from LTE to 5G and provide scalable capacity and coverage solutions for the Enterprise DAS market that we have been talking about for some time."

RELATED: Boingo hits milestone with 10 new DAS buildouts in Q2

The firm believes that the traditional DAS architecture will remain fairly stable in addressing the carrier DAS market mostly in high-density, large public venues like stadiums and airports.

But after 10 years, Mobile Experts said the 2019 DAS report will be the last in its DAS series.

In 2020 and beyond, the analysts will expand the report into a comprehensive look at in-building wireless that will acknowledge solutions such as repeaters, small cells, Distributed Radio Systems (DRS), CBRS, ORAN, as well as DAS. “This broader scope of indoor challenges and product solutions will serve to illuminate the changing DAS market and deliver crucial analysis for evolving business models associated with bringing 5G indoors,” the firm said.

RELATED: Marek’s Take: Making 5G work indoors is a huge task for operators

This last DAS report includes a section on public safety, and outlines a strong ongoing driver for long-term DAS deployment. The analysts foresee a bright future for Tier 1-driven DRS solutions in carrier-dominant markets like China where the neutral-host infrastructure sharing is not commonplace.

"Open RAN virtualized solutions offer an exciting opportunity for In-Building Wireless suppliers to potentially create combined coverage and capacity solutions that can scale across different market segments. Neutral hosts will create new indoor solutions that can evolve from LTE to 5G and provide scalable capacity and coverage solutions for the enterprise market," said Joe Madden, chief analyst, in a statement.