Despite shrinking budgets, public safety organizations in the EMEA region are increasingly interested in making use of next-generation mobile broadband and mission-critical TETRA networks during the next five years. So finds a study carried out last year by the analysts IDC on behalf of Motorola Solutions.

The study shows that two-thirds (64 per cent) of these organizations plan to deploy or extend their use of TETRA/TETRA 2 (TETRA Enhanced Data Services, or TEDS) in the next five years and many (61 per cent) are interested in next-generation mobile broadband services for public safety, such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks.

Furthermore, the IDC research, which polled 105 EMEA public safety organizations, underlines the continuing need for robust, highly secure and continuous voice communications. Advancing TETRA technology will allow agencies to deploy much-desired services such as instant messaging and more precise location tracking for field-based personnel.

Doing more with less

“It’s clear that there is strong interest in EMEA for faster, better communications access to enable the supply of next generation communications technologies”, commented Peter Hulleman, consulting manager of IDC’s European telecommunications and networking team. “It is undeniable,
however, that in the next five years public safety organizations must learn to do more with less.”

The study showed that emergency services plan to make greater use of advanced computer technology such as PDAs (54 per cent), mobile Wi-Fi (36 per cent) and rugged notebook computers (54 per cent) as part of their next-generation services.

The most desired applications amongst EMEA public safety organizations are instant messaging (45 per cent) and location tracking (57 per cent).

“Like their public sector counterparts, emergency organizations are under pressure to enhance their service capabilities while dealing with tough budgetary constraints”, said Tom Quirke, vice president and general manager of Motorola Solutions’ global TETRA Organization. “They see that expanding access to TETRA and mobile broadband technologies in the future is essential to maintaining their high standards while ensuring the safety and capabilities of staff working in the field.” 

Countries included in IDC’s research were Germany, Italy, Poland, South Africa, Norway, the Netherlands and the UK.