May 19, 2015

A new 3GPP video discusses how LTE is a vital part of the Critical Communications future, but carries a word of warning from Phil Kidner - the CEO of the TCCA - who believes that the 3GPP specifications are yet to meet all of the mission critical requirements, meaning that TETRA is set to be around for a number of years to come.

Tero Pesonen - the Chairman of the TCCA Critical Communications Broadband Group - welcomed 3GPP SA6 group's success in bringing multiple groups together, which he saw as "Enabling the possibility of one common solution which serves society" in the future. On spectrum usage, Pesonen called for a harmonised approach, to allow the market to develop well - preferably in spectrum where commercial equipment is available - bringing the economies of scale for Critical Communications users who are small in number compared to commercial network users.

In the video, Phil Kidner emphasises the importance of the small group of professional users, who have ensured that TETRA has stayed at the pinnacle of requirements for functionality for a number of years, stating that "We want to have the same functionality we have today" adding that “we’re not looking to take a step backwards”.

• See the video on Vimeo

CCW2015

This week sees the 2015 edition of the Critical Communications World Event, in Barcelona - which will see conference presentations on the future prospects for TETRA and LTE for this sector.

• See http://criticalcommunicationsworld.com/agenda-at-a-glance/ for details of the programme.
• Interesting fact: Only TETRA (65) gets more mentions than LTE (29) in the CCW2015 programme!