Forging New Horizons — The Road Ahead with Hytera

Professional Mobile Radio (PMR) technologies have traditionally dominated the markets for critical communications. As in many other industries, the technology is evolving fast. Broadband technologies supporting data-rich, multimedia services are starting to offer an alternative to voice-centric, narrowband PMR technologies.

The leading PMR provider Hytera is actively evolving its product development strategy to shape and lead the trend towards a broadband future. At a recent global partner summit, Yelin Jiang, CEO of Hytera Group, explained that the company’s development strategy is designed to facilitate this migration to new technologies while continuing to support customers who still want to use PMR networks.

According to Jiang, Hytera believes that TETRA and DMR provide the bedrock for voice-centric systems for mission-critical users such as the police. PMR is also the most reliable and intuitive group communications solution for many industrial sectors. For this reason, Hytera is committed to investing in both its DMR and TETRA technologies and product series. It is also adding consumer-grade radios for the Chinese market to its PMR product line.

However, there is no doubt that emerging technologies capable of supporting data-rich communications can boost operational efficiency and enhance situational awareness for mission-critical users, thereby enabling better-informed decision-making in critical moments. Hytera will, therefore, continue to develop multiple product lines such as MCS, body-worn cameras, private 4G/5G networks, and next-gen control room solutions. The industry leader is also open to including more technologies when necessary.

As mission-critical users migrate to broadband they will be increasingly reliant on public or shared communications infrastructure, which may be vulnerable to serious natural or man-made disasters. It is essential that in extreme situations, mission-critical users have access to fast-deployable communications systems. Therefore, Hytera keeps its deployable systems portfolio at the forefront of technological progress, so its customers can cope with even the most challenging scenarios.

It’s clear that broadband will be the future, so PMR vendors have to adapt to this changing technology environment to ensure they can continue to fulfill their customers’ needs. The public telecoms world has already largely shifted over to 4G/5G technology and private PMR network users are moving forward likewise. The big question is how and when this will happen. This is where things get difficult, as there are multiple challenges that must be overcome.

Different customers in different industries have a wide range of communication needs that need to be specifically tailored to their operational requirements. For the past three decades, Hytera has worked closely with global customers and has accrued a deep understanding of their operational procedures and communications requirements. Mobile network operators and suppliers, usually good at catering to the universal demands of a huge consumer base, are still catching up with PMR vendors in terms of understanding vertical sectors and generating reasonable profit by serving niche markets.

Several developed countries have started to deploy mission-critical broadband solutions, in different ways, for their public safety users. Each country is unique in terms of spectrum availability, budgeting, and governance in general; therefore, there is unlikely a one-fit-all way of doing it.

A further issue is that consumer cellular technology moves very quickly with chipsets and consumers see a new generation of smartphones usually in two or three years. But mission-critical customers are used to a product life cycle of 5 to 10 years and they want that to continue.

For these reasons, while broadband will be the future, 4G/5G will not replace PMR overnight. There will be a fairly long period of coexistence between the two technologies. It means that narrowband TETRA and DMR technologies remain viable and while the market may not grow, it will remain vibrant. Emerging technologies powered by LTE broadband connectivity are converging to create value for mission-critical scenarios, and they iterate fast.

Hytera has positioned its product development strategy to meet the demands of this multi-technology world and the particular requirements of its mission-critical customers. Its product strategy, understanding of customer needs, and the ability to unify technologies will keep Hytera at the forefront of serving and empowering the users of mission/business-critical communications products and solutions.

Images caption: Hytera Group CEO, Yelin Jiang, addresses the audience at Hytera Global Partner Summit 2023 in Bali Indonesia on May 11.