Any change in power is sure to bring about larger ripples of change, and when it comes to an organization with an expansive reach, like the FCC, it’s inevitable that the change is going to be widespread and deeply impactful.
The Federal Communications Commission, often abbreviated as the FCC, is a federal agency that is in charge of regulating many kinds of both interstate and international communications, including the cellular networks that Distributed Antenna Systems work to boost. These regulation decisions can make it more difficult, expensive, and time consuming to deploy certain systems; outright ban certain functions, like the use of “dumb” signal boosters to boost the gain on signals beyond certain levels; and potentially cause any other number of wide-reaching effects depending on what is being regulated and how. Of course, things can swing in the opposite direction as well, such as when the FCC chooses to lift certain restrictions in order to encourage particular industries or innovations to flourish.
Now that Brendan Carr oversees the FCC, regulatory focus has changed to an emphasis on the expansion of broadband networks and the streamlining of infrastructure developments, and an emphasis on systems designed for public safety communications. These new areas of focus have led to reduced barriers to the deployment of DAS (Distributed Antenna Systems) and Private 5G networks, allowing for industries that previously weren’t making much use of these technologies to branch out into these new innovations.
In particular, education, retail, and public safety initiatives are all uniquely positioned to take advantage of these relaxed barriers. Education and public safety have the opportunity to leverage enhanced infrastructure to integrate systems that allow for reliable connectivity in times of emergency. When a situation is dire and every second counts, clear and accessible communication can mean the difference between a well-executed, coordinated effort and incoherent panic. A team of first responders that can communicate easily can relay information about dangers, the location of injured people, evacuation routes, and more. A team without access to such things is relying entirely on their pre-existing knowledge of the location, something they may not even have (especially in large urban environments like cities), and the hope that there is someone within shouting distance if they or someone they’ve come across needs immediate help or can’t be moved easily.
Retail can also benefit. The fusion of digital and physical operations allows for a retail chain to perform not only real-time management of their inventory but also design more personalized customer experiences, ensuring each individual customer has as good an impression as possible on each and every shopping trip.
These new regulatory focuses also come with some unique challenges. New privacy and data security standards must be adapted, something which may leave many staggering from issue to issue, unsure exactly where to turn for answers. Nextivity AI-powered DAS systems offer a solution to this. While most businesses will need to invest in technical upgrades in order to make the most of their DAS, the results speak for themselves. Not only does an intelligent DAS solve coverage challenges, they also offer the capability for real-time environmental monitoring and event detection, all while being completely compliant with the new privacy and data security standards set by the FCC. In a similar vein, Private 5G networking offers a much more secure solution than previous forms of Wi-Fi while also being more scalable and customizable to your needs. We predict the use of these two technologies will allow those who adopt them to thrive while others struggle with the shift caused by these new regulatory focuses.
