New third-party wireless infrastructure company buys 5 Bars’ stadium business

NRG Stadium during Super Bowl LI. Credit: AP / Morry Gash/ Patriots.com

Neutral Connect Networks (NCN), a newly formed third-party operator of wireless systems for sports and entertainment venues, has purchased the stadium business part of 5 Bars as part of its inception, a transaction publicly announced last week.

As part of its rollup NCN also acquired DAS Communications, a third-party infrastructure provider with deployments in Boston and New York. The new company also received a $30 million funding round from M/C Partners, a Boston-based private equity firm.

Though 5 Bars recently basked in the successful glow of its biggest stadium project — building the Wi-Fi network at Houston’s NRG Stadium, home of the recent Super Bowl LI — the firm had faced challenges winning deals due to its smaller size, according to Paul McGinn, the CEO of NCN. With more personnel resources along with the $30 million war chest, McGinn said the 5 Bars sports business has a better chance to compete.

“We’re going to put tens of millions into 5 Bars,” said McGinn in a phone interview. “We’re looking forward to growing that business quickly.”

In addition to NRG Stadium, 5 Bars had built third-party networks at the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim’s Angels Stadium, and is constructing DAS and Wi-Fi networks at the new football stadium at Colorado State University, which is scheduled to be completed in time for this fall’s season.

McGinn, who was most recently at Vertical Bridge as director of business development, leads a team that includes Brian Porter, a former vice president of in-building operations at telecom gear provider Ericsson. Porter will be NCN’s senior vice president of sales and operations. Bruce Banigan, II, vice president of business development for 5 Bars’ sports operations, will continue in that role at NCN.

John Clarey, 5 Bars’ former CEO, who will continue as an investor in NCN, said in a prepared statement that “the financial commitment from NCN and M/C Partners provides 5 Bars the needed resources to continue to build and operate the large projects it has in its pipeline.” The terms of the all-cash deal for buying 5 Bars’ sports business were not revealed. UPDATE: 5 Bars said its other main business line, a nascent operation looking to provide third-party wireless infrastructure for cities and communities, will continue to operate under the name XG Communities.

Though some recent comments by telco executives seem to be signaling a change in their companies’ willingness to participate in third-party DAS and Wi-Fi deployments may be waning, NCN’s McGinn said his new company will approach third-party deals with a different mindset, mainly one that looks longer into the future.

“We’re not going to be looking to recoup 100 percent of the cost of the system in one to three years,” said McGinn. Instead, McGinn said the new NCN/5 Bars approach will be one of looking for smaller cash contributions over a longer time frame.

5 Bars helps Angel Stadium get Wi-Fi and DAS to full strength for playoffs

Angel StadiumIn addition to a packed house and a top-performing team, the Angel Stadium of Anaheim will have a fully functional Wi-Fi network and a full-strength DAS on hand when the American League divisional playoffs begin there Thursday.

Just as the Los Angeles Angels oF Anaheim built their American League West division-winning record all summer, networking infrastructure provider 5 Bars brought the connectivity in the team’s stadium to the top this season as well, completing the neutral-host DAS in June and finishing the Wi-Fi network in time for the last regular-season homestand, according to the company. As the Angels get set to host the Kansas City Royals on Oct. 2, the 400-plus antenna DAS and the 300-plus Wi-Fi access point network should be able to handle the expected crush of selfies, Vines and other fan-based wireless communications that will course the airwaves during game time at the 45,050-seat facility.

While we hope there’s still time this season to get down to Anaheim for a live visit and test, for now we’ll let some quotes from the prepared press release let you know how the team feels about having better-than-average connectivity for its fans:

“We want to bring the best possible Major League Baseball experience to fans attending our games, and we’re confident this new, high-performance Wi-Fi network will fully meet those expectations when our fans come to Angel Stadium,” said John Carpino, President of the Angels, in a prepared statement.

Though the 5 Bars name is a new one in the stadium technology deployment marketplace (earlier this year the company was calling itself “5 Bars Inside,” but the inside is now dropped from the name), its leadership team claims “more than two decades of practical experience in developing and managing DAS networks for wireless service providers,” according to the press release announcing the Angel Stadium networks. For its neutral-host DAS 5 Bars is using the Teko DAS platform of products from JMA Wireless; according to 5 Bars both AT&T and Verizon will be active on the DAS on Oct. 2. On the Wi-Fi side, 5 Bars used gear from Wi-Fi supplier Ruckus Wireless. The Wi-Fi network will be free to all fans at the stadium.

UPDATE: The folks at Ruckus have an well detailed press release about the Angel Stadium deployment that is worth reading through.

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