The DAS Forum rebrands as HetNet Forum

The DAS Forum, a special membership section of PCIA - The Wireless Infrastructure Association, has been renamed to the HetNet Forum. PCIA says the name shift reflects the group’s increasingly diverse membership and its focus on advancing the variety of small cell solutions -- distributed antenna systems (DAS), microcells, picocells, Wi-Fi and remote radio units -- that use licensed and unlicensed spectrum to link to the macrocellular network.

According to a press release, the HetNet Forum represents the interests of more than 60 companies that deploy small cell network architectures through advocacy, information exchange and the promotion of best practices. HetNet Forum members include OEMs, infrastructure providers, systems integrators and end-user companies.

See also: Deploying 'hetnets' to meet mobile broadband demands

The group says its focused advocacy on small cell issues has resulted in a number of recent policy successes, including signal booster categorization, DAS-related provisions in the Middle Class Tax Relief and Jobs Creation Act of 2012, and a court ruling that upheld the FCC’s pole attachment order which granted timely, non-discriminatory access to utility poles and technology-neutral rates for attachers.

“This is a key transition at the right time for our industry,” comments Jonathan Adelstein, president and CEO of PCIA, the parent organization to the HetNet Forum. “HetNet Forum members are using every tool in their toolbox to deliver wireless broadband to consumers everywhere -- indoors and outdoors, urban and rural. This unique organization provides an excellent forum for members to further develop their businesses and deploy urgently needed wireless capacity to meet the exploding demand for wireless data to be available at any time, and in any place.”

The HetNet Forum will host an annual event, HetNet Expo, showcasing a variety of small cell technologies used in wireless broadband network deployment. The first HetNet Expo will be in 2014.

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