Public Safety LTE Market Infrastructure To See 33% CAGR to 2020

 A new report released today reveals that LTE is emerging as the leading candidate for public safety mobile broadband networks replacing the traditional voice-centric Land Mobile Radio (LMR)

New report "Public Safety LTE & Mobile Broadband Market: 2016 - 2030 - Opportunities, Challenges, Strategies & Forecasts" says due to the bandwidth limitations of their traditional voice-centric LMR (Land Mobile Radio) networks, public safety agencies are keen to leverage commercial cellular network technology to support their growing broadband application needs. Considering its thriving ecosystem, spectrum flexibility and performance metrics, LTE has emerged as the leading candidate for public safety mobile broadband networks.  In addition, with the recent approval of the MCPTT (Mission Critical Push to Talk) voice standard as part of 3GPP Release 13, LTE has also become an attractive substitute for providing LMR-like voice services.

The Qatar Ministry of Interior made headlines when it deployed a private 800 MHz LTE network in 2012. Since then, numerous public safety LTE networks have sprung up across the globe, including the UAE, China, Laos,Turkey and Kenya.  Several early adopter LTE deployments are also operational in the United States, as part of the planned FirstNet nationwide public safety broadband network. While most initial public safety LTE investments are limited to small-scale networks, nationwide rollouts in the United States and South Korea are expected to trigger significant large-scale investments throughout the globe.

The European market is largely dominated by MVNO arrangements, such as the UK Home Office's ESN (Emergency Services Network) program that will use EE's commercial LTE network to deliver prioritized mission critical voice and data services for the UK's public safety agencies. As part of the program, EE is enhancing its existing network with additional sites, satellite backhaul and a dedicated mobile core for first responders, among other investments.

Driven by the thriving ecosystem, research estimates that annual investments on public safety LTE infrastructure will reach $600 Million by the end of 2016. The market, which includes base stations (eNBs), mobile core and transport networking gear, is further expected to grow at a CAGR of 33% over the next four years. By 2020, these infrastructure investments will be complemented by over 4.4 Million LTE device shipments, including smartphones, rugged handheld terminals and vehicular routers. 

  Source: PR Newswire