The Small Cell Forum (SCF) has launched a new advisory council comprising hoteliers and real estate companies as it looks to embed the technology at the centre of enterprises.
The Enterprise Advisory Council includes commercial real estate advisers Camden Living and CBRE, General Motors, Grange Hotels, healthcare company Kaiser Permanente, Marriott International, Texas A&M University and shared office provider WeWork.
The SCF said it wanted to bring together its telco members and businesses “to provoke discussion, articulate the benefits of digitised enterprise networks and drive small cell deployments”.
Coupled with this is an outreach program, which has chosen the hospitality sector as its first target. It cited research that claiming two thirds of business travellers would not return to a hotel or venue with poor cellular coverage. This is a problem small cells could solve, the SCF has claimed.
[Read more: Small cell shipments hit 1.7 million in 2016]
Alex Ajdelsztajn, of EAC member Marriott International, said: “With over 1,200,000 rooms in more than 6,200 properties worldwide, offering an exceptional mobile experience to our guests is critical to our success. We are delighted to be working with the Small Cell Forum and its members to ensure the industry continues to evolve with the customer experience in mind.”
The SCF has also written a series of case studies about how small cells can improve the quality of mobile services within hotels, resorts, shopping centres and industrial facilities.
David Orloff, Chair of the SCF, said: “Whether it’s notspots frustrating guests on the upper levels of a hotel, or a lack of connectivity on factory floors, poor or patchy cellular coverage is a major issue across all enterprises, and increasingly this lack of access to reliable critical communications will directly impact organizations’ bottom lines.
“SCF is in a unique position to bring the cellular operator and vendor community together with major players from across the enterprise to work to resolve this issue to the benefit of everyone.”