Nokia Foresees Challenges in the Uptake of Public Safety LTE in Asia
Nokia identified the challenges in the uptake of PSLTE (Public Safety LTE) in five Asian countries. Nokia identified the lack of budget, lack of consensus amongst stake holders and the chalenge of complex ecosystems.
Recently, Nokia together with Tolaga Research finalized a research to understand the uptake of Public Safety LTE in 5 Asian Countries (Bangladesh, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand and Vietnam). The provider of public safety LTE solutions wanted to outline gaps and best practices in order to provide a guideline for industry players, government and policy-makers in order to accelerate the uptake of the digitalization of critical communication networks.
One of the conclusions of the report is that there are barriers to that are hindering the adoption of broadband-based public safety communication networks in these countries. These challenges range from complex ecosystems to inadequate budgets and, in some cases, a lack of consensus among stakeholders.
Furthermore, Nokia found that there is an urgent need to enhance public safety capabilities and capacities to cope with new threats, and to further improve emergency services.
We have put together a short overview of the findings:
Public Safety LTE in Thailand
Thailand has a mature public safety ecosystem in place, with dedicated PPDR spectrum allocated and strong commitment from telco operators and end-users. The country also has several strong market triggers that are driving the adoption of LTE-based critical communications, such as the presidential elections slated for 2018 and the recent rise in domestic conflicts.
It is expected that since the country has now allocated spectrum for broadband PPDR, the use of LTE could also be expanded into other vertical markets that require additional business and mission critical services.
Public Safety LTE in Bangladesh
Bangladesh’s public safety ecosystem is at an emergent stage as commercial LTE networks have yet to be launched. In this countty public safety agencies rely primarily on commercial cellular services for their critical communication needs.
Because of the tremendous challenges with natural and man-made disasters, there are opportunities to tap on LTE-based critical communications for broader risk management and emergency response capabilities.
Public Safety LTE in Indonesia
The sentiment and opportunities for LTE-based critical communications in Indonesia are expected to improve greatly over the next five years, buoyed by a variety of factors, including radio spectrum availability and the push for LTE-based critical communications by Tier-1 mobile operators.
The acceleration of 700MHz harmonization would enable mobile operators to deploy large-scale LTE-based critical communications in Indonesia.
Public Safety LTE in Japan
Nokia's research showed continuous investments by mobile operators to ‘harden’ network infrastructure in Japan. Current PMR systems in Japan were also designed for voice and low-data communication with local proprietary techniques.
A dedicated 3GPP LTE spectrum for public safety should be taken into consideration to benefit from the global harmonized technology.
Public Safety LTE in Vietnam
Vietnam’s public safety ecosystem is still developing with commercial LTE in nascent stages. The local regulator supports LTE services andcis focused on spectrum re-farming and harmonizing activities. There have been no public announcements on the allocation of dedicated PPDR spectrum to date.
Just like in any other part of the world, it seems that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to public safety solutions in the above mentioned countries. The responsibility ultimately lies with the government to put in a sense of urgency as it directly impacts how effective agencies can be in the field when responding to emergencies. Nokia states that the possibilities are there, but the company realizes that it need to do more to accelerate a digital future across emerging and developed countries in Asia.
