Boosting In-Building Mobile Coverage for Growthpoint Properties

South Africa's Largest Listed Property Company

Growthpoint Properties is South Africa’s largest listed property company, owning and managing a diversified portfolio of commercial, retail, and industrial properties. With a commitment to providing world-class infrastructure, Growthpoint ensures that its tenants and visitors experience seamless connectivity within its buildings. Bolton Technical has partnered with Growthpoint to enhance cellular signal coverage across multiple sites, ensuring reliable connectivity for tenants, customers, and staff.

Growthpoint Properties Portfolio:

The Problem

Growthpoint Properties’ extensive portfolio spans office, retail, industrial, and trading & development sectors, each facing unique connectivity challenges:

1. Northgate Mall Centre Management – The main office section, including reception, enclosed offices, the boardroom, and control room, suffered from poor signal reception. Internal wall structures, distance from external signal sources, and high user density contributed to signal degradation. Due to its central location within the mall - surrounded by multiple reflective materials and physical barriers - the centre management office was essentially a dead zone for mobile communication. This significantly disrupted operational efficiency and responsiveness.

2. Brooklyn Mall Centre Management – A dual-purpose commercial and retail space requiring seamless connectivity across multiple office areas on two floors. Upstairs included the reception area, boardroom, two offices, and hallways; downstairs housed three office areas and a hallway. The varying construction materials and building layout created signal inconsistencies, making it difficult for centre management to maintain effective communication.

3. Greenstone Mall Padel Courts – This area faced significant issues with poor cellular signal coverage, especially during load shedding. This resulted in unreliable voice calls, slow or dropped mobile data connections, and a compromised customer experience. Given the mall's popularity and the high expectations of modern shoppers and staff, reliable mobile connectivity was crucial.

4. The District Basement – Limited Connectivity in The District Parking P1-P5 Basement
Located just outside Cape Town’s CBD, The District office property faced a significant challenge - tenants struggled to complete cashless parking payments via the Admyt system due to poor cellular connectivity in the basement parking area.

The Solution

Bolton Technical implemented tailored cellular signal boosting systems at each Growthpoint location to address its specific challenges:

1. Northgate Mall Centre Management – Our signal experts deployed a complete solution featuring Bolton Arrow donor antennas to capture the external signal, WilsonPro A1000 Boosters to amplify it up to 32x, and Wall-Mount Panel Antennas to transmit the signal throughout the space. The donor antennas were mounted externally on brackets for optimal signal access, while the boosters and antennas were strategically installed within the offices to ensure even coverage.

2. Brooklyn Mall Centre Management – The Arrow LPDA and Omni-Directional  antennas were securely mounted on the rooftop to capture signal. WilsonPro A1000 boosters were installed in the server room, amplifying the signal and routing it to strategically placed Wall-Mount Panel Antennas. This provided seamless signal coverage across both floors while ensuring minimal installation disruption through a carefully planned cable route.

3. Greenstone Mall Padel Courts –  We deployed a scalable, tri-band WilsonPro A1000 booster system to deliver robust performance and allow future expansion. High-performance The Arrow and Omni-292 donor antennas were installed on the rooftop, drawing signal from multiple towers as a redundancy. Indoors, Low-Profile Dome Antennas and Sector Antennas ensured even coverage across the padel courts and surrounding retail space. All cabling was integrated with existing data trays for a clean and efficient setup.

4. The District Basement – To ensure seamless cashless payment functionality, we installed two donor antennas (The Arrow and Omni-292) to draw signal from multiple towers and connected them to WilsonPro A1000 amplifiers. These then fed amplified signal to high-gain sector antennas, distributing strong coverage across the targeted parking levels. Tenants and visitors now experience smooth mobile performance for parking transactions.

The Result

Following installation, each site saw a substantial improvement in mobile signal strength:

• Voice Call Quality: Clear, uninterrupted conversations throughout previously dead zones.
• Data Speeds: Noticeable boosts, even in high-traffic or enclosed areas.
• Operational Efficiency: Seamless communication enabled better response times and smoother facility management.

At Northgate Mall, the centre management office went from virtually no signal to full voice and data coverage. Despite the challenges posed by long cable runs and LMR600 coaxial cable use, the installations were completed efficiently and with minimal disruption.

Our Proven Approach to Signal Improvement

At Bolton Technical, we follow a structured process to ensure every solution is tailored to the specific needs of each property:

Consultation – A detailed discussion with a signal expert to understand the unique connectivity challenges faced in the building.

Site Survey – A comprehensive on-site assessment to analyze the environment, identify interference sources, and assess coverage gaps.

Custom Project Proposal – A tailored plan that outlines all identified signal barriers and presents the optimal signal-boosting solution.

Professional Installation – Efficient and discreet installation of the solution by our expert team, ensuring minimal disruption to daily operations.

How It Works

Signal Capture (Donor): After carefully assessing the unique challenges of the Greenstone Mall Padel Court site, our team designed a dual-antenna solution to ensure reliable, high-performance signal capture with a built-in redundancy plan. To achieve this, both the Arrow LPDA and Omni-292 antennas were installed on the rooftop. This powerful duo works in tandem, strategically positioned to draw in the strongest possible signal from different directions and frequency bands, ensuring consistent connectivity even in fluctuating signal environments.

Signal Amplification: The captured signals are then amplified by the WilsonPro A1000 signal boosters, boosting signal strength by up to 32 times. 

Signal Distribution (Transmitter): The amplified signal was seamlessly distributed throughout the targeted spaces using a combination of Low-Profile Dome Antennas and Sector Antennas. This setup effectively delivered strong, reliable coverage across multiple rooms within the facility.

After the installation, signal strength inside the building improved dramatically. Multiple Growthpoint Properties reported a significant enhancement in voice call quality and a noticeable improvement in data speeds, resulting in seamless mobile connectivity. The client went from having little to no communication in the centre management office to enjoying clear, reliable voice calls and improved data performance.