Correction note: after this post was published it was noticed that the word billion was used inappropriate in lieu of the word million.
Brazil’s largest carriers — Vivo, Claro, Oi, TIM and Nextel — have joined together in a consortium to build distributed antenna systems (DAS) in the soccer stadiums that will host the FIFA 2013 Confederations Cup and 2014 World Cup games. The estimated investment totals about $12.3 million (R$25 million) for 12 stadiums. The telecom operators did not release how much each consortium member will pay.
Follow RCR Wireless News—Americas on Twitter, Facebook and subscribe to our free periodic newsletters
In Brazil, DAS initiatives are still in the early stages, which is very different from countries such as the United States, where nearly every major sporting venue and convention center has been outfitted with a distributed antenna system.
DAS essentially acts as a “tree and branch” system whereby radio capacity is concentrated at a central location and then distributed via a network of fiber-fed remote antennas that can be deployed at strategic points throughout a venue. Carriers want to use DAS to provide their customers with great Internet access while they are attending an event, including the ability to send picture messages and post text, photos and videos to social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
“DAS is starting late in Brazil,” said Leonardo Capdeville, director of planning and technology at Vivo, in an interview with RCR Wireless News. “But it is a very interesting way to optimize efforts. Instead of each carrier building its own system, we will share a unique system.”
Cristiane Gargaglioni, Nextel’s senior manager of planning and budget, said that the great advantage of having the consortium is the cost dilution among stakeholders. It will also make it easier to work with stadium administrators. “A shared framework in which all operators are involved is beneficial for everyone: customers, operators and administrators,” he said.
Capdeville said the consortium has already signed suppliers, including Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent and CommScope.
DAS in Confederations Cup stadiums is expected to be ready by April. “It is more difficult to negotiate the installation of distributed antenna systems than actually installing them,” said Capdeville.
In addition to the stadiums, the carrier consortium’s next steps include setting up a deal with the airport administrator, Infraero, which is responsible for operating Brazil’s main commercial airports. “We are in talks,” he said.
Nextel’s Gargaglioni said that the concept of consortium already exists, for example, in shopping malls and subways, but with lower complexity. “In the case of the stadium consortium, the project’s complexity is the big challenge,” he said.
The $12.3B figure seems inordinately high … $1B for each stadium, just for DAS? Looking at the cost of DAS deployments in NFL stadiums, for example, that can run a few 10s of millions, even if an order of magnitude more expensive, that would put the Brazil project around $1-2B in total. I wonder what the Brazilians are paying for?
John,
I agree with your comments.The price tag seems very high compare to US stadiums. Considering the stadiums down there are smaller in sq ft area. I was at the Maracana stadium last year and you can pack 100K people but 50% are stand-up.
I would say the 12B is the sum of all combine DAS projects including Airports, Stadiums and Hotels/ wordlcup facilities, etc.
Good point. In the interview, they said stadiums would cost about R$ 2 million (U.S. $1 million) each. The airports’ costs weren’t estimated yet, since they don’t have agreements yet.
Dear John, thanks for you note. Indeed you are correct. The word billion was used inappropriately in lieu of the word million. I apologize. I corrected the article already. Roberta
Looks like something was losted in transalation. It happens.
In fact, RFS (Radio Frequency Systems) will supply and implement the DAS design and solution for this project, not mentioned.
I wonder if there will be a requirement for mobile antennas that are fully auto-acquire, which don’t exist in Brazil?
Thanks for your note.
Do you mean femtocells? In Brazil, governement is regulating them. You can find more about it at http://www.rcrwireless.com/americas/tagged/femtocell/
Hi Roberta…no, not necessarily Femtocells…I’m just talking about fully automated SNG/DSNG broadcast vehicles for the games. There are some manual and semi-automatic mobile antennas being used, but none that are fully auto-acquire (it seems)…
Aw, this was a very nice post. In idea I wish to put in writing like this additionally – taking time and precise effort to make an excellent article… but what can I say… I procrastinate alot and by no means seem to get one thing done.