Transitioning public safety critical communications to LTE/5G MCX

Public safety mission-critical communications systems are migrating from legacy professional mobile radio (PMR) technologies to LTE/5G solutions with MCX, to provide advanced multimedia services and enhance situational awareness during crises.

The massive acceleration over the past year is driven by the increasing frequency and magnitude of crises; growing demand for communications systems that can leverage data, video, and real-time geolocation; the limitations of existing PMR solutions; and the growing readiness and maturity of the 3GPP and MCX ecosystem. Multiple networks and operating models, including hybrid, multi-operators core network, full MVNO, private, and commercial as well as elements such as non-mission critical voice (VoLTE) support and location services, the provisioning and billing of users (OSS/BSS/MDM), the eSIM platform and network, and security operation and maintenance (NOC and SOC), exist.

This complex multi-vendor, multi-system architecture requires end-to-end system integration, urbanisation of the solution, as well as testing and validation to ensure the security and quality of services of the network. This POV describes a multi-year transformation programme for the design, build, operation, and migration of such networks taking into consideration the scarcity of resources and skills required to deploy and run them in the context of heightened security and sovereignty stakes in the current geopolitical situation.