Distributed Antenna Systems Business Model

Over the past month I have had on and off call with a major league baseball team that is contemplating implementing a DAS (Distributed Antenna System). All the basic issues came up, should we combine WLAN with a DAS, absolutely not. However, more front and center was the notion that the “carriers” will provide the DAS. Meaning one carrier we all know will provide the DAS and let their other carrier get on it. Really, you think this is going to happen? The reality is that in my own backyard (Philadelphia), the two major carriers got into such a dispute that they ended up putting in (2) DAS designs from two different manufactures in the same hospital! That is nuts. Also, some are proposing that they are more of a real estate agent and they will fund the DAS. At the end of the day, the right business model is for the customer to own the equipment, let the carriers fund part of the capital expenditures, and have a competent integrator implement and install. This way the customer has control of the technology and can dictate what is going on.