LTE is gaining traction as an alternative to proprietary, one-off communications used by military organizations worldwide, according to a fresh report from SNS Research.
The firm estimates that up to 15 percent of all public-safety LTE investments will be "military-centric tactical deployments" by 2020 and will represent an installed base of more than 15,000 LTE eNodeB base stations worldwide that same year. "These tactical base stations will comprise a number of form factors including Cell in a Box (CIAB), Cell on Wheels (COW) as well as airborne cells," SNS said.
Military establishments are already trialing and deploying LTE throughout Europe, the Middle East and North America, according to SNS.
The shift toward LTE is being driven by a desire to exploit technology advancements that can be found in the commercial marketplace. In addition, the commercial equipment is often less costly than proprietary solutions and offers a choice of vendors.
In military situations, "the higher data rates offered by LTE can accelerate the deployment of advanced applications such as mobile video and situational awareness," SNS added.
The research firm earlier reported that the installed base of public-safety LTE base stations will reach nearly 155,000 globally by 2021 and will serve nearly 4 million public-safety LTE subscribers worldwide at that time.
For more:
- see this SNS release
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