Response to DAS MCF-2022 Announcement

The Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association (AMTA) is the peak industry body representing Australia’s mobile telecommunications industry.

AMTA has announced that the Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS) industry guidance document, MCF-2022, has been set aside and the previous version, MCF-2018, has been reinstated.

This has some immediate consequences for owners, builders, suppliers, contractors and designers.

Our response is to extend an offer to all Madison Connectivity Solutions (MCS) present and future clients and project stakeholders to review your requirements and determine the most appropriate way forward. Some clients will wish to remain with the MCF-2022 specification as it delivers superior in-building mobile coverage and better 5G performance while other clients will be able to reduce costs and deliver solutions which comply with MCF-2018. This offer is to provide a revised High-Level Design (HLD) which is compliant with MCF-2018, free of charge.

Even though the MCF-2018 document was originally written for a 3G/4G in-building coverage system, the operation of 5G technologies on an MCF-2018 system is still possible. There are, however, nuances with the augmentation and interaction of 5G technologies on an MCF-2018 system. We thoroughly examine these details during the design stage. This is an important point: MCF-2018 can support 5G with the right attention to design and we are happy to discuss how this can be achieved.
We believe that it is imperative that all clients take this opportunity to review their projects in light of the recent changes. It is a complex issue and there is no single answer.

This change to the DAS guidelines is an opportunity to review your investment and make sure you are spending only what is necessary to achieve your objectives.

We look forward to helping you work through this. Please contact us for any clarification or if you have any concerns regarding your project.