Asia outpacing Europe by TETRA adoption

Terrestrial trunked radio (TETRA) technology is gaining popularity in Asia, as well as in new markets beyond public safety, according to IHS Markit.

The research firm estimates that TETRA deployments worldwide grew 16% in 2017, due to both refreshes in mature markets as well as fresh deployments in new areas.

Europe remains the largest market for the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) developed TETRA standard, but the Asian and Latin American markets for the technology are expected to grow at a faster rate than Europe over the next few years.

Asia already posted its largest growth in deployments in 2017, with deployments across airports, metro systems and other transport hubs, the company said.

TETRA has emerged as the technology of choice for emergency services, but is also seeing adoption in industries such as transport, utilities and the industrial sector.

As well as land mobile radio (LMR) based TETRA systems, LTE is emerging as an alternative. Private LTE networks have been deployed in China, Australia, South America and several MEA markets, IHS Markit noted.

The research firm said LTE might be used as a substitute for TETRA and other high-end LMR technologies over the next five to ten years. But in the short term, LTE is expected to be used to complement critical voice communications with data capability rather than replace LMR altogether.