The acquisition of distributed antenna system (DAS) specialists DAS Group Professionals by fiber concern America Fujikura Ltd. (AFL) will help AFL with its expected growth in stadium DAS deployments, an AFL executive said.
The Jan. 3 acquisition, first reported by Stadium Tech Report in December, will help AFL “really elevate our offering to venues,” said Seneca Mullins, the president of AFL’s U.S. services group, in a phone interview.
Though AFL is not currently known to be heavily involved in the stadium DAS design and deployment market, it has done stadium DAS work before and in February 2021 it acquired Beam Wireless, which has done stadium DAS deployments and other stadium work, including at the Carolina Panthers’ Bank of America Stadium. According to Mullins, the company had preferred to stay under the public radar in the past, but that might be changing with the addition of DGP and a desire to expand the stadium DAS business at AFL.
“We have liked to operate kind of off the grid,” said Mullins, who claims that AFL has done un-publicized DAS deployments for an NFL venue and an NHL venue in the past 18 months, with another contract (“a C-band deployment”) currently in the works. But Mullins also knows that the stadium technology marketplace often generates sales by referrals from one customer to the next, so in the near future AFL will likely shine more light on its deals.
“We know teams refer [decisions] to other teams, so we want to see our business grow and have people recognize it,” Mullins said. “It’s time to elevate our public profile.”
Terms of the deal were not announced by the companies. DAS historians will note that the official press release used DGP’s former name, Forza Telecom, as the title of the firm AFL acquired. Forza Telecom was the name of the firm way back in the day when it first developed cellular networks for the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system in and around San Francisco. The company started using “DGP” as its name when it did the work at Levi’s Stadium.
Adding DGP’s success to the mix
Acquiring DGP, one of the most successful firms in the stadium DAS deployment market, is a good start in that direction. DGP, a small firm based in Walnut Creek, Calif., just northeast of San Francisco, burst onto the sports technology scene when it was selected to build the DAS for the San Francisco 49ers’ new home, Levi’s Stadium, which opened in 2014. What made DGP different from other providers in the stadium DAS world is that DGP usually builds a neutral-host DAS deployment that is owned and controlled by the team, instead of by a wireless carrier or by a third-party operator (3PO). This model gives the team more control over its DAS relationships with carriers, who pay the venues to participate in the DAS.
Referrals from DGP’s work with the Niners led to a chain of DAS deals at some of the largest stadium DAS projects, including networks at the Chicago Cubs’ Wrigley Field, the Sacramento Kings’ Golden 1 Center, the Texas Rangers’ Globe Life Field, and most recently, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., and at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. DGP recently led an update of the cellular networks at Allegiant Stadium to prepare for Super Bowl LVIII. Like others in the industry, Mullins said AFL sees a lot of stadium cellular upgrades in the near future, as previous 10-year contracts expire and venues look to add new technologies like 5G to the mix.
“There’s going to be a huge demand [from stadiums] for tech upgrades,” Mullins said.
DGP president Steve Dutto said he was attracted by the fact that when AFL acquired companies like Beam, it kept all the employees on board.
“It was really important to us to be in a place where there was growth potential,” said Dutto, who added that he has no pending plans to leave the business anytime soon. DGP, he said, “had gotten about as big as we could get.” With all the DAS contracts out there up for renewal, he said, being part of an organization with more resources and the same goals was a good path.
“It was just the right time and fit,” Dutto said.
