Recently there has been much discussion about improving cell phone service at Club at Las Campanas facilities as well as within the Las Campanas community. We would like to take this opportunity to describe the activities that have been undertaken by your Club at Las Campanas.
As many of you know, this is not a new issue. The desire and/or need for improved cell phone service has been a topic of discussion for several years. We have received input from Las Campanas members and prospective members that the lack of state of the art cell phone service in Las Campanas is a negative aspect of living and working here. This message has also come from local realtors and business owners.
In the past, Las Campanas Limited Partnership had made efforts to address this issue, but was unsuccessful. Its efforts were terminated when Turnover activities began. At that time, AT&T was interested in improving service, but abandoned the project when it perceived a lack of interest on the part of Las Campanas Limited Partnershi pand the Club at Las Campanas.
In mid-2011, the Board decided to explore options for improving cell service as a part of our efforts to find ways to attract new members. Since that time, we have been working with an experienced telecommunications consultant to evaluate alternatives under the constraint of “no significant capital investment by the Club”. Any investment associated with improved service will be borne by the carriers and the Club at Las Campanas would expect to receive a yearly lease fee if an installation is sited on Club at Las Campanas property.
Our consultant has communicated with all viable carriers to evaluate their interest and proposed solutions to enhanced cellular service. Proposals include advanced distributed systems, various forms of “stealth” structures to support required antenna arrays as well as establishment of more localized cell phone hot spots.
To date, AT&T is the only carrier that has shown near-term interest in investing in this project. Based on extensive radio engineering and analysis, the Fitness Center at Las Campanas was the area identified as the optimal location to provide the greatest benefit for a given size antenna structure.
We are currently working with our consultant and AT&T to better understand coverage improvement parameters as well as architectural concepts for a stealth structure. Consideration of distributed systems and local cell phone hotspots is part of this effort. After thoroughly evaluating each approach, we should be able to make an informed decision on how best to proceed. To date no decisions have been made and no commitments have been given.
We ask for your understanding and patience as we address this important issue for our Club at Las Campanas and community. We will keep you apprised of our progress.
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact Mark Silbert, Las Campanas Board member and Chairman of the Onsite Communications Committee (rmsilbert@mac.com).