The modern shopping experience would look very different without access to telecommunications. From the retailer’s dependence on EFTPOS to the shopper’s need for hand-held banking, millions of transactions daily rely upon telcos and their technology. Dennis Doty, Founding Director of siteXcell explains why owners who deal directly with the nation’s big three carriers potentially place themselves at a massive disadvantage…

Presented with heavily one-sided agreements, owners and their managers are often confused as to the real intent of those agreements yet feel somewhat powerless to change them, stuck between satisfying the needs of their customers who demand ever-better connectivity to enhance and support their shopping experience and accepting the demands of the only people who can seemingly make that happen.

Established in 2005, siteXcell is a telco-property consultancy specialising in dealing with carriers on behalf of owners, such as shopping centres and other major retailers. Clients include some of the country’s most prominent retail sector players, including The GPT Group, Retail First and Lendlease.

From managing property access to negotiating new carrier leases, we bring balance back to negotiations on behalf of owners looking for a better and fairer outcome.

Our three directors have more than eight decades of combined experience. They know both the property and telecommunications sectors inside out, which is a massive advantage in negotiations. As an independent organisation focused exclusively on advocating for landlords with their telco needs, we’re unlike any other major consultancy in the country in the telco sector.

Why does that matter? Because the telecommunications sector is incredibly complex, with multiple players who can easily out-manoeuvre owners with highly specialised jargon. That’s why its essential to have someone to assist with negotiations who understands the technicalities and can protect against revenue loss and onerous long-term operational obligations.

Perhaps, most concerning, many landlords don’t even realise how badly they’re being misled. With our team’s decades of experience, we can spot a poor deal a mile away.

And for our shopping centre clients, the value we add goes beyond just dealing with carriers. We work alongside operations teams to support their telecommunications risk minimisation strategies across both workplace health and safety, and on-site security.

Data at your fingertips

Our online site access management portal – co-siter™ – is one of siteXcell’s most powerful tools, enabling it to track and manage carrier access requests, ensuring complete visibility and accountability throughout the entire process.

co-siter™ is a cutting-edge system designed to keep all parties up-to-date and ensure that any access to a shopping centre by a carrier’s contractor is always safe, secure and compliant.

The siteXcell team reviews new tenant broadband connections against the centre’s design requirements to ensure a compliant design and minimal disruption to the centre. Management is kept fully informed throughout the clearance process, safe in the knowledge that all contractors wishing to visit the centre have been fully vetted, and this leads to high tenant satisfaction with timely connection.

co-siter™ features include:

• A secure cloud-based architecture
• Automated workflows and intelligent processing controls
• Customised site-specific information and documentation with fast identification of existing tenure to ensure correct access protocols are applied
• Streamlined management of Land Access and Activity Notices (LAANs) from access approvals to document storage
• Support to protect the security and safety of buildings and their occupants

Importantly, co-siter™ puts shopping centre owners in control, ensuring industry best practices are applied to carriers and contractors seeking access to the property.

From managing property access to negotiating new carrier leases, siteXcell bring balance back to negotiations on behalf of owners

Troubleshooting connectivity

Ensuring quality mobile coverage throughout a shopping centre is critical for delivering an optimal retail experience. Centres typically have what’s known as a Distributed Antenna System (DAS) installed by carriers within the facility to provide a consistent internal mobile signal. Our teams are experts in understanding DAS systems and what they should be delivering.

When it comes to shopping centres and what they expect from telecommunications, tenant and shopper satisfaction is key.

At the end of the day, connectivity matters. Tenants expect to be able to connect to services when they move in, use their EFTPOS portals when they need them, and send messages directly to their customers at any time.

We regularly support shopping centres in dealing with their in-building mobile coverage and the challenges they face in dealing with carriers. We can monitor what’s happening through our access management portal and ensure that new tenant connections are carried out efficiently and effectively to ensure no disruption to trade opening and without interrupting other tenants or the centre’s operations.

Above all else, we advocate on behalf of owners to ensure carriers are delivering as promised. We can troubleshoot connectivity concerns and explore options to rectify or improve the coverage they need without spending massive amounts to fix problems.

100% independent

Unlike other consultants, siteXcell is 100% independent, free from conflicts of interest and contractual obligations to the carriers. This enables us to focus entirely on getting the best outcome for our clients.

Our clients know we aren’t affiliated with a particular carrier or service offering, and they appreciate we’re not getting a kick-back or preferential treatment as part of the negotiations.

Best of all, the trust we have built has been based on results. Our clients see our involvement as an investment in ensuring they get the best outcome available in the market.

Our unique approach means we can also tell when a carrier has gone too far and installed equipment without the owner’s knowledge. This practice, where new equipment is added to existing sites without authorisation from the owner, is incredibly common. However, many owners don’t even know they should be getting additional rent for the extra equipment as well as payments for the time it has been on their premises.

In just over a decade, siteXcell has negotiated or advised on more than $3 billion in telecommunications deals and successfully secured more than $9 million in back rent owed to its clients.

SiteXcell has offices in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide. Contact the siteXcell team on 1300 748 395 or visit siteXcell.com.au