CommScope Expands Solutions for Sector Sculpting to Aid in Stadium Wireless Capacity Issues

--One of Industry’s Broadest Antenna Portfolios Now Features Stadium Specialty Antennas, Including New 18-Beam Antenna, In Support of Demanding Outdoor DAS Environments--
June 18, 2012 HICKORY, N.C.

As requirements for handling wireless traffic and capacity inside stadiums and concert venues intensify almost daily, wireless operators and facility managers increasingly are turning to a CommScope innovation known as sector sculpting to satisfy the tens of thousands of spectators who fill venues in numerous cities every day.

The sector sculpting technique is deployed via the new family of CommScope specialty antennas and combined with an outdoor distributed antenna system to address the unique needs of high traffic, highly visible venues—such as outdoor stadiums and concert halls—that can strain or impede networks that are ill-prepared for the crush of wireless traffic generated by customers.

These stadium technology challenges are reflective of expected record highs in mobile data usage. A recent report from Informa Telecoms & Media forecasts that in 2016 the average wireless subscriber will access 6.5 times more video from his or her device compared with 2011 usage. Music and social media are expected to be eight times higher than last year, while the figures on mobile gaming could be almost 10 times greater.

“When you look at the challenges mobile operators are facing today and the projections for as few as three to five years from now, the capacity issue is a real concernwhether it’s in an outdoor DAS scenario or the macro cellular network,” said Philip Sorrells, vice president of Site Solutions, CommScope. “Investing in capacity with sector sculpting solutions offers network providers one of the best opportunities to meet requirements now and in the years ahead, which can give them a solid return on their investment.”

CommScope’s sector sculpting solution—already deployed in several stadiums by a major US operator and at the world’s biggest athletic event—features a new generation of multi-beam antenna technologies. Traditional antennas provide a single main power beam, with a primary goal of providing coverage in the intended area. Sector sculpting splits those beams into more narrow and tightly controlled areas, thus reducing interference levels, which is crucial in HSPA+ and LTE systems.

In high traffic areas such as sporting venues, these systems are combined with an advanced DAS such as the ION-M™ from CommScope, which supports the distribution via optical fiber of bandwidth in a multi-operator and multi-technology environment.

CommScope provides a broad range of sector sculpting solutions as part of its newly-expanded portfolio of antennas, which now pairs products from the legacy Andrew Solutions brand with the high performance antenna innovation offered by Argus Technologies, which became part of CommScope late in 2011. The integration of the two companies' antenna lines—completed in May—pairs Argus' antenna research and technology strengths with CommScope's broad antenna solutions, global reach and its position as a respected global leader in RF solutions for wireless network infrastructure.

The CommScope antenna portfolio is among the industry’s most comprehensive, with several multi-beam and reconfigurable beam options, such as three-way SmartBeam®, dual-beam, five-beam, and the new 18-beam antenna. All are designed to preserve customers’ infrastructure investments without the need for constant replacements when rolling out new technologies or supporting other bandwidth frequencies. They are further engineered to reduce tower loading and make it easier for operators to gain approval for site installation. The ability to minimize passive intermodulation and the flexibility for optimizing antenna beams also helps enhance network performance.

CommScope’s newest innovation is the 2x9 multi-beam antenna—the first in the industry. This solution provides the power of 18 beams into a single antenna to provide capacity-optimized coverage throughout a venue served by a DAS. It features two rows of nine beams each covering both high and low seating areas in locations with as many as 10,000 to 100,000 spectators. One row of beams tilts upward four degrees and the second row tilts downward four degrees. An intricate beamforming technique suppresses noise between the sector to enable high-performance and optimum capacity management. The antenna is MIMO-compatible, as well as easy and fast to deploy.

About CommScope

CommScope (www.commscope.com) has played a role in virtually all the world’s best communication networks. We create the infrastructure that connects people and technologies through every evolution. Our portfolio of end-to-end solutions includes critical infrastructure our customers need to build high-performing wired and wireless networks. As much as technology changes, our goal remains the same: to help our customers create, innovate, design, and build faster and better. We’ll never stop connecting and evolving networks for the business of life at home, at work, and on the go.

This press release includes forward-looking statements that are based on information currently available to management, management’s beliefs, as well as on a number of assumptions concerning future events. Forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of performance and are subject to a number of uncertainties and other factors, which could cause the actual results to differ materially from those currently expected. In providing forward-looking statements, the company does not intend, and is not undertaking any obligation or duty, to update these statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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News Media Contact:
Rick Aspan, CommScope
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publicrelations@commscope.com
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Phil Armstrong, CommScope
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