Critical Communications Market to Top $10 Billion by 2022

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

Modern critical communications systems are used in the fight against terrorism and crime, as first responder communications, and in industrial and business radio systems, transportation, and public utilities networks. In its new report ABI Research, a market-foresight advisory firm providing strategic guidance on the most compelling transformative technologies, releases its market forecast for these systems.

Representing a total market of US$10 billion in base stations, repeaters, handsets, and infrastructure in 2022, the North American market continues to account for more than half of this world market with the rapidly growing Asia-Pacific region in second place at 20% market share. Europe, Latin America and the Middle-East and Africa regions rank third, fourth and fifth respectively.

Public safety radio was the ancestor of critical communications providing mission-critical voice services and continues to represent over half of this market, followed by the Industrial, Transportation and Utility segments. However, today’s need for mobile broadband data has also entered the equation driving critical communications systems to evolve to digital radio for data handling and spectrum efficiency. As a result, critical communications systems are slowly evolving from the current TETRA, DMR, and P25 to coexist and interoperate with LTE-based systems.

“We are seeing this evolution take place in the United States with the FirstNet/AT&T national public safety broadband network buildout, and the Emergency Services Network builds in the United Kingdom, and with other countries,” says Nick Marshall, Research Director at ABI Research. “This cautious transition relies on co-existence between LTE and the TETRA, DMR and P25 technologies as first responders and other users replace legacy voice functionality with a mission-critical push to talk using LTE,” continues Marshall.

The critical communications ecosystem has both a historical and modern-day perspective and is comprised of companies ranging from Motorola Solutions, JVCKenwood and Harris to Hytera, Tait Communications, Vertex Standard and Icom and others. Digital communications are becoming an important part of this new market and will continue to accumulate share as time goes on. Ultimately, the critical communications market will bridge the gap between commercial two-way radio and mobile wireless communication, incorporating complex data services.

These findings are from ABI Research’s Critical Communications: Public Safety, Industrial/Business, Transportation, Utilities, and Other Radio Systems and Networks report. This report is part of the company’s 5G & Mobile Network Infrastructure research service, which includes research, data, and Executive Foresights.

About ABI Research

ABI Research provides strategic guidance for visionaries needing market foresight on the most compelling transformative technologies, which reshape workforces, identify holes in a market, create new business models and drive new revenue streams. ABI’s own research visionaries take stances early on those technologies, publishing groundbreaking studies often years ahead of other technology advisory firms. ABI analysts deliver their conclusions and recommendations in easily and quickly absorbed formats to ensure proper context. Our analysts strategically guide visionaries to take action now and inspire their business to realize a bigger picture.