How to Build a Strong Indoor Digital Infrastructure?

In the digital age, the importance of indoor digital infrastructure is increasingly highlighted, especially after the pandemic, when the demand for digitalization, reconfigurability, and spacious housing has increased significantly. The progress of technologies such as 5G, 6G, AI, and the Internet of Things (IoT) provides end-users with exceptional connectivity and services, making the connectivity infrastructure within buildings crucial.

The Importance of Network Connectivity Flexible, high-capacity access connections in indoor environments have a significant impact on job opportunities and economic growth. Therefore, establishing high-quality, robust telecommunications connection infrastructure is particularly important. This includes simplifying and facilitating the mandatory installation of neutral and shared telecommunications infrastructure, such as cables, fiber optics, and conduits, to ensure equal access to connectivity.

The Role of Common Telecommunications Infrastructure (CTI) CTI plays a key role in establishing seamless and reliable communication networks in urban environments. It includes components such as fiber-optic cables, fiber amplifiers, power units for active/passive telecommunications infrastructure, and digital patch panels. The key roles of CTI include: Enhanced connectivity: Ensuring occupants can use high-speed internet, voice services, and other digital communication tools. Cost-effectiveness: Reducing the cost of installing and maintaining separate communication networks by sharing infrastructure, improving cost-effectiveness and affordability. Scalability and flexibility: Meeting the changing communication needs of residents, easily upgrading and modifying to support new technologies and services. Promoting competition: Fostering healthy competition by requiring multiple service providers to use neutral infrastructure, leading to better services and pricing. Supporting smart building solutions: Laying the foundation for implementing smart building solutions, such as IoT devices, sensors, and automation systems. Enabling digital transformation: Crucial for the digital transformation across various industries, helping to adopt cloud services, remote work, digital collaboration tools, etc. Community connectivity: Promoting community connectivity by sharing access to digital resources and services, fostering social interaction, collaboration, and knowledge sharing. Energy efficiency: Optimizing power usage, saving energy, and reducing environmental impact.

Challenges Faced Despite the many benefits of CTI, there are also challenges in implementation: Poor Service Quality (QoS): The need to improve the quality of service within buildings. Lack of enforceable, clearly defined quality and standardized CTI regulations: Existing buildings lack such regulations. Difficulty in access and installation due to commercial interests: It is challenging to access and install telecommunications facilities within buildings due to commercial interests. High entry prices for service providers: The need to reduce the entry prices for service providers. Lack of fire-resistant fiber optic cable infrastructure: The fiber optic cable infrastructure deployed within buildings needs to be fire-resistant. Traditional fiber is susceptible to bending loss: There is a need for bend-insensitive fibers, such as G.652.A2, to reduce loss and build a future-proof network.

Summary

Building a strong indoor digital infrastructure is key to achieving digital transformation and improving the quality of life. By overcoming the challenges mentioned above, we can ensure that the connectivity infrastructure within buildings can meet future communication needs while improving energy efficiency and community connectivity. This requires the joint efforts of policymakers, building owners, service providers, and technology innovators to achieve a more interconnected and intelligent future.