The global in-building wireless market hit $19.42 billion in 2023, fuelled by a 10.7% CAGR as enterprises scrambled to support IoT, hybrid work, and 5G-driven automation1. Yet beneath this growth lies a paradox. While 62% of spending flows to traditional infrastructure like Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS)2, a growing cohort of IT leaders are abandoning these legacy systems altogether - and their labyrinth of coax cables, complex RF engineering and months of carrier negotiations.
Traditional DAS was designed for large venues such as stadiums and airports where the operators treat these as extensions of their outdoor microcellular networks. Today, it struggles to deliver the low latency, scalability and cost efficiency demanded by the enterprises including hospitals, higher education, warehouses, retail where cost efficiency, flexibility and performance is critical.
If DAS can no longer support them, where are IT leaders turning their attention? Many are evaluating and deploying neutral host solutions like Celona. Leveraging CBRS spectrum and enterprise LANs, these solutions slash deployment timelines from months to weeks, reduce TCO by up to 60%, and converge public/private cellular on a single platform. In fact, Mobile Experts projects that the revenue from MOCN neutral host-based solution segment will surge at a CAGR of 96% of as enterprises prioritize agility and seek alternatives to DAS’s constraints.
Traditional DAS versus Celona Neutral Host
For those unfamiliar, here is a quick rundown of each solution:
Distributed Antenna System (DAS)
A legacy cellular infrastructure that distributes signals via coaxial cables or fiber to antennas across a building. Designed for public cellular coverage, DAS relies on centralized base stations and licensed carrier spectrum, requiring complex RF engineering, dedicated cabling and months of deployment.
High costs, limited scalability, and single-purpose use (voice/data) make it ill-suited for modern IoT and private networks.
Celona Neutral Host
A modern, cloud-managed solution that leverages shared spectrum (3.5GHz in the US) and existing enterprise LAN/Wi-Fi infrastructure. By deploying cellular access points (APs) alongside existing IT networks, it delivers both public cellular coverage and private 4G/5G for IoT, automation, and mission-critical apps - without dedicated fiber or carrier dependencies.
Now let’s compare each on key factors.
Time to On-Air
Traditional DAS relies on licensed spectrum bands – such as 700MHz, 2.5 GHz - that overlap with outdoor macrocellular networks. This means engineers must ensure indoor signals are strong enough to penetrate walls, but weak enough to avoid interfering with outdoor towers - a process requiring months of initial benchmarking of the site to characterize the macro signals, design the type and power of remotes and combination of spectrum bands, RF tuning and optimization once the system is deployed. Plus negotiating transmission contracts with carriers is a lengthy and time-consuming process that extends months and quarters.
Celona Neutral Host sidesteps this complexity by operating in the CBRS band (3.5 GHz), a shared spectrum silo unused by outdoor carriers. This eliminates macro-network interference risks, decoupling in-building design from external cellular noise. With Celona, engineers no longer waste weeks mapping signal leakage or negotiating carrier frequency shifts. They simply deploy APs like enterprise Wi-Fi to prioritize coverage and capacity, not interference mitigation.
Also, enterprises sign one Celona contract greatly simplifying and reducing the time needed to implement the solution.
Scalability & Flexibility
Traditional DAS architectures are complex. Every new floor, wing or high-density building requires additional remote units, splitters and coax runs. Capacity is tied to a centralized base station, forcing IT teams to overprovision for peak demand or risk bottlenecks. It is too cost prohibitive to deploy in smaller spaces or in targeted floors inside larger buildings.
On the other hand, Celona Neutral Host integrates with enterprise LANs and leverages software-defined cellular - so scaling is as simple as plugging in an AP where coverage or capacity is needed. More bandwidth required in a warehouse packed with IoT sensors? Deploy an AP. Expanding to a new office wing? Reuse existing Ethernet cabling. Unlike DAS’s hardware-bound rigidity, Celona scales at the speed of software, allocating spectrum slices or prioritizing traffic via a cloud dashboard.
Multi-Tenancy & Private Networks
With traditional DAS, hardware is locked to licensed carrier spectrum delivering public cellular coverage - and nothing else. Say you want to add a private network for IoT sensors, autonomous robots or secure voice? You will need to prepare to deploy a separate system, complete with redundant cabling and hardware. Because DAS simply carries the RF from carrier’s base station with no ability to direct capacity where it is needed, enterprises have zero flexibility to reallocate capacity for emerging needs.
Celona Neutral Host leverages software-defined CBRS spectrum. This allows enterprises to dynamically serve capacity based on demand - public cellular users (subscribers of carriers like AT&T and T-Mobile) and private devices (for industrial devices, AI cameras or emergency comms) - all on the same APs.
Essentially, Neutral Host turns cellular infrastructure into a multi-application platform, future-proofing enterprises against the next wave of connected tech.
Visibility & User Experience
As the name reflects, Distributed Antenna Systems, are pipes that transport radio signals injected from carrier case stations. Carriers retain 100% visibility of the experience of users inside the building. Enterprises are unable to assess whether the system they paid millions of dollars for is working for them. When users in the building complain about lack of performance, there is not much to do other than point to the carriers or the suppliers that install and maintain the system.
With Celona’s cloud-based neutral host system, IT and enterprise stakeholders have complete visibility into usage (voice and data calls), performance (throughput, seamless mobility) and retainability (dropped calls, latency) on Celona’s cloud-based Orchestrator.
Cost Drivers
Traditional DAS is expensive. In fact, it’s predictably expensive. Enterprise deployments demand multimillion-dollar upfront investments, driven by dedicated fiber/coax cabling, carrier-grade hardware and specialized RF labor. Recurring costs for power, cooling and maintenance compound these expenses over time, creating a financial burden that only grows. Worst of all, this steep investment funds infrastructure that struggles to adapt to modern demands like IoT integration or private networks, locking organizations into rigid, outdated systems.
Celona Neutral Host disrupts this model by turning three legacy cost centers into advantages:
- Infrastructure: Reusing enterprise LAN/Wi-Fi cabling and PoE switches reduces costly fiber/coax pulls across a site.
- Power & cooling: Distributed APs consume 60% less energy than Base Stations, DAS head-ends and remotes, slashing annual OpEx.
- Management: Cloud automation reduces RF tuning and carrier negotiations from months to hours, cutting IT labor costs by 50%.
These savings compound at scale too. For a 500K sq ft warehouse, a 50% TCO reduction could unlock millions in capital - funding IoT pilots, Private 5G or predictive maintenance initiatives.
The Wrap on Celona Neutral versus Traditional DAS
Traditional DAS with its high costs, convoluted deployments and limited flexibility, is essentially a single-use network that demands dedicated wiring and complex RF design. On the flip side, Celona’s solution cuts total cost of ownership by 40-60%, speeds up deployment and delivers higher capacity - all while using existing LAN and simplifying RF design with CBRS spectrum. Plus, unlike DAS, it supports both public and private networks, making it a far more versatile and future-proof choice.
The financial case for Celona is clear. But perhaps the real revolution lies in convergence. Unlike single-purpose DAS, Celona Neutral Host networks blend public cellular coverage with Private 5G for IoT, automation and mission-critical apps - all on one platform.
The question isn’t whether to replace DAS - it’s how much faster, efficiently and cost effectively your operations could run without it?
[1] Grandview Research (2023), In-building Wireless Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Offering, By Business Model (DAS, Small Cells, Wi-Fi, Hybrid Systems, Cellular/3G/4G/5G), By Building Size, By Application, By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2024 – 2030. Available online.
[2] Mobile Experts (2025) –Neutral Host Provider Outlook
