The number of public safety LTE users worldwide is expected to reach 11 million by 2020, and the market size is likely to reach $5.1 billion, according to a new report by ABI Research. “Collaborations between Motorola Solutions and Ericsson as well as Harris and Nokia Networks have demonstrated the potential of a single unified broadband and narrowband communications solution,” the company said in a news release. “However, the advancement of existing LTE networks is still crucial in the deployment of a public safety LTE network.

Therefore, ABI Research believes the United States, United Kingdom, and South Korea will be the first three markets to have a fully functional public safety LTE network by 2017. More deployments will take place in emerging markets, such as Middle East and other parts of Asia-Pacific, after 2017.” “The lack of legacy public safety communication networks allows these markets to deploy First Responder and Public Safety LTE networks, with no issues of interoperability. Emerging markets will eventually replace advanced markets as the growth driver, especially with China joining the fray in around 2021,” says ABI Research analyst Lian Jye Su. However, in the U.S., the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) expects to award a contract or contracts to construct a nationwide public safety broadband LTE network in 2017, with base network deployment beginning in 2018 and running five years.