02 May 2018

Total critical communications revenues associated with transport will be worth more than USD3bn by the end of 2020, according to IHS Markit.

The analyst said public safety and security organisations represent the largest adopters of critical communications globally, accounting for around 38 per cent of PMR deployments in 2017.

However in aggregated terms, IHS says business critical sectors – the ‘non public safety sectors’, including buses, trams, metros, trains, ports, airports and utilities – make up the largest combined worldwide market for critical comms.

Within that market, transportation accounts for the largest share of deployments, and the firm projects that as the world economy continues to strengthen, business critical sectors will continue to gain prevalence in this global ecosystem.

The Asia Pacific region is forecast to experience the largest growth of critical comms technologies, followed by the Americas and Europe and the Middle East.

IHS believes the market is being fuelled by the need to promote security, ensure personal safety and create business efficiencies.

Robin Davis, chair of the TCCA’s (TETRA and Critical Communications Association) transport group, said: “We have seen continued growth in the adoption of TETRA technologies in the transport market over a number of years as users transition from analogue radio systems to secure digital ones.

"Live information and data enables better operational decisions to be made, whether that is on vehicles or on platforms.“

According to Davis, suppliers supporting the adoption of the transport user base are innovating with the latest technologies to provide some "pretty amazing“ solutions to support multi modal transport networks and smart cities.