TETRA  |  2012-09-24

Federal Communications Commission Rulemaking Endorses TETRA in the United States of America

Source: The Critical Communications Review | Gert Jan Wolf editor

The FCC has stated that “TETRA is a spectrally efficient digital technology with the potential to provide valuable benefits to land mobile radio users”.

Sepura plc is delighted by the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) announcement on September 21, 2012 of its Report and Order which expands on the waiver granted in May 2011 for the use of TErrestrial Trunked RAdio (“TETRA”) in the United States of America under its Part 90 Rules.  This announcement follows a similar announcement by Industry Canada last May.
 
The FCC announcement gives further certainty to organisations in the business, industry and land transportation sectors which are considering migration to TETRA digital radio communications, a mature and open standard that has been now adopted in more than 125 countries worldwide.
 
The FCC has stated that “TETRA is a spectrally efficient digital technology with the potential to provide valuable benefits to land mobile radio users”.  The FCC also reports “that by accommodating 4 voice (and data) paths in each 25KHz channel TETRA achieves 6.25KHz voice path efficiency, thus meeting, indeed exceeding, the 12.5KHz voice path “narrowbanding”  efficiency standard” applicable in the 450-470 MHz segment of the UHF band requirements that are mandated from Jan 2013.  The FCC has also acknowledged that the TETRA Industry had demonstrated to its satisfaction that TETRA provides at least as much, if not more, interference protection as other available technologies.
 
Gordon Watling CEO, Sepura commented “This FCC ruling confirms to potential customers in the US that they can look forward to enjoying the benefits that TETRA digital communication solutions offer.  TETRA has already been approved for use in over 125 countries, and we have been working hard with the TETRA + Critical Communications Association and our partners for many years to ensure that the 9 million Professional Mobile Radio users in the US are also able to choose a proven, open communications standard that has already delivered significant improvements in the quality of communications and productivity for so many of our global customers.”


 
“Sepura has a secure, reliable and robust portfolio of products which have been certified for use in the US, including our world leading STP8000 series hand-helds and SRG3000 series of mobiles/gateways and repeaters, together with our 3T infrastructure solutions.  This comprehensive offering, combined with our established value-add technology partners in North America who complement our product range with extensive command, control, dispatch and data applications, means we are well-positioned to assist customers in their transition to TETRA.”

Source: Sepura