Emergency communicationLMR market to reach $16.2 billion by 2017

Global Industry Analysts (GIA) has just released a global report on Land Mobile Radio (LMR) Systems markets.

The report forecasts that the global market for LMR infrastructure will reach $16.2 billion by the year 2017, driven by factors such as growing threat of natural disasters and need for emergency communication solutions, on-going need for secure communications among government agencies, and increasing investments in R&D and resulting technology improvements. Growing awareness of the benefits of LMR also augurs well for the future of this market.

The GIA report says that wireless communications such as mobile/cellular telephony and wireless networking, driven by rapid evolution of telecom technologies, have seen robust growth over the last few years, and will continue to do so, largely as a result of convergence of communications and computing and accelerated growth of mobile broadband and data services. These next generation mobile/wireless technologies, however, continue to suffer from coverage and reliability issues, which are key considerations for law enforcement, emergency medical services, disaster recovery, and other public safety applications.

As a result, a large number of critical services continue to remain committed to narrowband analog connectivity such as a Land Mobile Radio network. Offering high level of reliability required for public safety missions, LMR networks, and therefore LMR systems, have been gaining widespread adoption among government agencies and public safety departments such as fire, police, and emergency services, and even among business establishments such as hotels, airports, transportation service providers, and construction firms.

Growing number of emergency situations such as terrorist attacks, and natural disasters such as earthquakes and Tsunamis, over the years have especially put the spotlight on LMR systems.

The report says that LMR systems, capable of providing immediate and assured access to networks with high-level of reliability and extended coverage, and enabling priority access in case of emergencies, have been gaining robust demand in recent years. Although growth in demand for LMR systems slowed down temporarily during 2008 and 2009, fiscal stimuli from governments and the demand for cheap and reliable mobile radio communications mitigated the impact. The report notes that government agencies, with their on-going demand for reliable and effective wireless communication solutions for carrying out various protective, enforcement, and security missions, continued to rely on LMR systems as a communications tool, thereby helping sustain market demand during the period. Perceived as essential for ensuring public safety, LMR systems continued to attract substantial government funding despite recession.

Rising need for secure communications and the need for convenience will continue to drive growth in the global LMR Systems market over the next few years. LMRs are capable of transmitting information in a secure environment, also in an encrypted format, and thus meet the need for reliable security among government agencies and other information sensitive business organizations. Development of such encryption and decryption methodologies has resulted in wider adoption of the latest Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) among LMR users. The report says that growing investments on R&D by market participants in an effort to gain competitive edge in the marketplace will help foster development of new products with high price-to-value benefits, which will, in turn, help boost opportunities for LMR systems market over the next few years. Also, growing awareness among corporate users about the time and cost benefits offered by LMR systems will help expand the perceived value of LMR technology, which will help drive growth in the upcoming years.

The research report sees North America as representing the largest regional market for LMR systems, accounting for a majority share in the global market. Migration from analog to digital LMR and widespread availability of latest products in Digital LMR are the primary factors driving LMR systems market in North America.

— Read more in Land Mobile Radio (LMR) Systems – A global Market Report