Motorola Solutions Continues to Invest in TETRA for Airwave
During the company’s quarterly earnings conference call Motorola Solutions Chairman and CEO Greg Brown was loud and clear when asked to specify the type of LMR investments being made by the UK government in the Airwave system.
About the TETRA technology investments made on Airwave, Brown said: “They continue to use it. They continue to upgrade system software releases. They continue to add devices and interoperability between fire and police.”
During that same call Bruce Brda, Motorola Solutions’ executive vice president for products and solutions stated that the UK government also is investing in solutions that allow interoperability between Airwave users and ESN users.
He stated that “LTE currently doesn’t have a viable solution for direct-mode” voice communications, noting that the United Kingdom’s Home Office initially plans to use its new Emergency Services Network (ESN) for on-network mission-critical voice traffic and TETRA for off-network/direct-mode mission-critical voice for first responders as early as mid-2018.
“The UK Home Office has selected to go down a path of really two technologies: LTE for trunked or group communications, and then TETRA as a direct-mode solution—so, two technologies and two devices. “We will compete for the direct-mode TETRA device business at the right point in time. That opportunity hasn’t surfaced yet.”
Amongst the Key Facts in this year's Q2 report, Motorola Solutions reported the delivery of it's 1,000th TETRA digital radio system and 25,000th base station.
