Indoor cellular connectivity has shifted from a secondary consideration to a mission-critical requirement as enterprises accelerate digital transformation. Upendra Pingle, general manager of indoor cellular networks at ANDREW, an Amphenol company, told Fierce Network’s Linda Hardesty that operators and enterprises now expect indoor performance to match outdoor networks in reliability, throughput and seamless user experience. This demand is driven by cloud adoption, virtualization and a rise in AI-driven use cases that require consistent, high-capacity coverage indoors.
Pingle said legacy analog DAS architectures can no longer meet the needs of mid-band 5G, dense environments, or modern deployment timelines. As organizations work to converge public, private, Wi-Fi and IoT networks, he noted a defining shift toward digital systems that act as a true extension of the RAN. Digital DAS solutions such as Andrew’s ERA platform offer virtualization capabilities, end-to-end ORAN-aligned connectivity, automation and predictive analytics. They also dramatically reduce power consumption, physical footprint and cabling needs—addressing industry pressures around sustainability, real estate and total cost of ownership.
Looking ahead, Pingle expects fast growth in industries with high data-intensity needs, including healthcare, manufacturing and logistics. He described indoor cellular as the “fourth utility,” essential for enabling efficiency, scalability and AI-driven operations across large venues and enterprise campuses.
Linda Hardesty:
Well, hello, everyone. My name's Linda Hardesty, and I'm chief analyst for Communications Technologies at Fierce Network. Today I'm here with Upendra Pingle. He's general manager of Indoor Cellular Networks at ANDREW, which is an Amphenol company. Hi, Upendra.
Upendra Pingle:
Good morning, Linda. How are you?
Linda Hardesty:
I'm doing well, thanks. So I just wanted to ask some questions today about your business group. How has the indoor connectivity landscape changed over the past 12 to 18 months, and what are the biggest forces reshaping enterprise and venue expectations for 5G indoors?
Upendra Pingle:
Thanks, Linda. Glad to be here and always excited to talk about our Indoor Cellular Networks. So what we've seen is when it comes to operators, they're moving aggressively more and more towards cloud and virtualization, especially as the world starts going into AI-driven use cases. What we see is that they're trying to drive the network optimization through O-RAN and AI-RAN.
When you start thinking about enterprises, they actually want the same exact benefits, except they want it at a faster pace than what they've seen in the past. So they actually want all the same benefits that operators are driving inside their enterprise, but they want to be able to do that much sooner than what they've seen in the past.
And lastly, something that we've always talked about, the convergence of public networks, private networks, Wi-Fi, IoT, and all the sensors and everything. We have talked about it a few years back. We see that it's coming back and it's evolving.
Now, to your question, what does all that mean in terms of the customer expectations? Indoor cellular connectivity is expected to be very similar to outdoor. In past, indoor was almost like an afterthought, but now the requirement, the demand is that in terms of availability, in terms of reliability, in terms of throughput, in terms of the experience, seamless experience between indoor and outdoor, people don't want to be treated indoor any differently than outdoor. So that's number one. Which means there is a need for a dedicated indoor cellular system that is multi-operator, multi-band, and high capacity. And that also means that fast tracking of digital transformation across venues and campuses and airports and train stations and you name it, that's all expected to happen. So in short, what I'm seeing is in AI-driven use cases, indoor cellular connectivity is not an afterthought anymore, it's becoming more and more mainstream just like outdoor.
Linda Hardesty:
Many organizations are rethinking legacy DAS architectures. What do you see as the defining shift toward digital and O-RAN-aligned solutions, and how are next-generation solutions contributing to that transition?
Upendra Pingle:
Great question. I mean, picking up from what I just mentioned, with all the expectations around indoor cellular connectivity to provide the customer with a digital transformation experience, you better have a good digital solution and digital architecture that supports that end-to-end. The traditional analog RF-fed systems can scale with the mid-band 5G, especially on TDD and high-density environment. With their heavy cabling and high-energy consumption and limited flexibility that comes with the legacy systems, that's just the thing of past. What we need is a next-generation digital solution.
So what we're seeing happening is a transition towards digital interfaces for indoor system evolving from the traditional transport, just a signal transport, to a true extension of a RAN that the outdoor systems are used to seeing. So need for virtualization, that places the head-end resources either on-prem or all the way somewhere remote in C-RAM hubs. That is what is required nowadays.
So solutions like our own ANDREW ERA that provides full flexibility and full digital DAS experience with an end-to-end O-RAN connectivity that allows for automation, that allows for predictive analysis, that allows for all the use cases that people are expecting to get now is what is needed in the marketplace.
So in short, what I'm saying is an all digital indoor cellular system that is able to provide venues and enterprises to drive innovation, efficiency, scalability, and flexibility in their deployment is what we see is the need of the time.
Linda Hardesty:
So operators and enterprises cite rising pressure around sustainability, energy use, and total cost of ownership. How is the industry addressing these challenges?
Upendra Pingle:
Yeah, again, great question. I mean, let's think about what is driving those pressure points. One is rising cost of electricity. Another is rising cost of the real estate. Third is need for speed for deployments. And if you think about these trends, the legacy architecture is just not going to cut it. I mean, that is traditionally very power hungry, very space hungry, lot of cabling required, that takes too much time. That just not going to cut it anymore. That it's all thing of past.
What is needed in the marketplace is an all digital system that cuts power consumption dramatically, that cuts the need for space dramatically, and that cuts down the cabling so that the deployment is much faster. And again, that's what I'm saying from an ANDREW perspective, our digital solution exactly does that. It cuts the energy consumption by more than half, it cuts the need for space by 90%, and it drives up the speed of deployment.
What I'm saying in short is that, to your question, the industry is leaning towards more and more green, efficient, light solution, and an all digital DAS solution is the answer to it.
Linda Hardesty:
Well, as you look across customer deployments and operator collaborations, where do you see the indoor cellular market heading next, both technically and operationally?
Upendra Pingle:
We talk about ... I mean, we are living in the world of all the AI tools nowadays, and if you think about all the use cases that come with it, the demand for data, demand for efficiency, scalability, sustainability, it just going to keep on rising. It just going to be on a fast track mode right now.
The second thing that we are seeing is, we've talked about this in past, but the convergence of networks, either public and private networks, either Wi-Fi and cellular networks, either wired or wire lined or wireless networks, all that convergence is expected to happen. And for all that convergence to happen, again, like I said, you need a next-generation digital solution.
Then what we are seeing is especially verticals that have been unserved or less served in the past, like healthcare, manufacturing, logistics, are expected to pick up substantially. I mean, the data demand in those places is just substantially high. And that's why we are saying that ... we mentioned that the cellular indoors is the fourth utility behind gas power and electricity, and that is coming to a pass more and more. And what we are seeing is we have a solution in ANDREW in terms of our digital architecture that we are working tirelessly to make it available for both venues and enterprises alike.
Linda Hardesty:
Well, thank you so much, Upendra, for chatting with us today. I really appreciate it.
Upendra Pingle:
Thank you very much for having me.