https://urgentcomm.com/wp-content/themes/ucm_child/assets/images/logo/footer-new-logo.png
  • Home
  • News
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Multimedia
    • Video
    • Podcasts
    • Galleries
  • Commentary
    • Back
    • Commentary
    • Urgent Matters
    • View From The Top
    • All Things IWCE
    • Legal Matters
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Resources
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Reprints & Reuse
  • IWCE
    • Back
    • IWCE
    • Conference
    • Special Events
    • Exhibitor Listings
    • Premier Partners
    • Floor Plan
    • Exhibiting Information
    • Register for IWCE
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Statement
    • Cookies Policy
  • Related Sites
    • Back
    • American City & County
    • IWCE
    • Light Reading
    • IOT World Today
    • Mission Critical Technologies
    • Microwave/RF
    • T&D World
    • TU-Auto
  • In the field
    • Back
    • In the field
    • Broadband Push-to-X
    • Internet of Things
    • Project 25
    • Public-Safety Broadband/FirstNet
    • Virtual/Augmented Reality
    • Land Mobile Radio
    • Long Term Evolution (LTE)
    • Applications
    • Drones/Robots
    • IoT/Smart X
    • Software
    • Subscriber Devices
    • Video
  • Call Center/Command
    • Back
    • Call Center/Command
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • NG911
    • Alerting Systems
    • Analytics
    • Dispatch/Call-taking
    • Incident Command/Situational Awareness
    • Tracking, Monitoring & Control
  • Network Tech
    • Back
    • Network Tech
    • Interoperability
    • LMR 100
    • LMR 200
    • Backhaul
    • Deployables
    • Power
    • Tower & Site
    • Wireless Networks
    • Coverage/Interference
    • Security
    • System Design
    • System Installation
    • System Operation
    • Test & Measurement
  • Operations
    • Back
    • Operations
    • Critical Infrastructure
    • Enterprise
    • Federal Government/Military
    • Public Safety
    • State & Local Government
    • Training
  • Regulations
    • Back
    • Regulations
    • Narrowbanding
    • T-Band
    • Rebanding
    • TV White Spaces
    • None
    • Funding
    • Policy
    • Regional Coordination
    • Standards
  • Organizations
    • Back
    • Organizations
    • AASHTO
    • APCO
    • DHS
    • DMR Association
    • ETA
    • EWA
    • FCC
    • IWCE
    • NASEMSO
    • NATE
    • NXDN Forum
    • NENA
    • NIST/PSCR
    • NPSTC
    • NTIA/FirstNet
    • P25 TIG
    • TETRA + CCA
    • UTC
Urgent Communications
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • News
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Video
    • Podcasts
    • Omdia Crit Comms Circle Podcast
    • Galleries
    • IWCE’s Video Showcase
  • Commentary
    • Back
    • All Things IWCE
    • Urgent Matters
    • View From The Top
    • Legal Matters
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Reprints & Reuse
    • UC eZines
    • Sponsored content
  • IWCE
    • Back
    • Conference
    • Why Attend
    • Exhibitor Listing
    • Floor Plan
    • Exhibiting Information
    • Join the Event Mailing List
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Statement
    • Cookies Policy
  • Related Sites
    • Back
    • American City & County
    • IWCE
    • Light Reading
    • IOT World Today
    • TU-Auto
  • newsletter
  • In the field
    • Back
    • Internet of Things
    • Broadband Push-to-X
    • Project 25
    • Public-Safety Broadband/FirstNet
    • Virtual/Augmented Reality
    • Land Mobile Radio
    • Long Term Evolution (LTE)
    • Applications
    • Drones/Robots
    • IoT/Smart X
    • Software
    • Subscriber Devices
    • Video
  • Call Center/Command
    • Back
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • NG911
    • Alerting Systems
    • Analytics
    • Dispatch/Call-taking
    • Incident Command/Situational Awareness
    • Tracking, Monitoring & Control
  • Network Tech
    • Back
    • Cybersecurity
    • Interoperability
    • LMR 100
    • LMR 200
    • Backhaul
    • Deployables
    • Power
    • Tower & Site
    • Wireless Networks
    • Coverage/Interference
    • Security
    • System Design
    • System Installation
    • System Operation
    • Test & Measurement
  • Operations
    • Back
    • Critical Infrastructure
    • Enterprise
    • Federal Government/Military
    • Public Safety
    • State & Local Government
    • Training
  • Regulations
    • Back
    • Narrowbanding
    • T-Band
    • Rebanding
    • TV White Spaces
    • None
    • Funding
    • Policy
    • Regional Coordination
    • Standards
  • Organizations
    • Back
    • AASHTO
    • APCO
    • DHS
    • DMR Association
    • ETA
    • EWA
    • FCC
    • IWCE
    • NASEMSO
    • NATE
    • NXDN Forum
    • NENA
    • NIST/PSCR
    • NPSTC
    • NTIA/FirstNet
    • P25 TIG
    • TETRA + CCA
    • UTC
acc.com

Land Mobile Radio


News

COVID-19 impact contributes to significant decreases in LMR licensing activity

COVID-19 impact contributes to significant decreases in LMR licensing activity

  • Written by Donny Jackson
  • 2nd July 2020

Hampered in part by economic slowdowns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, land-mobile-radio (LMR) licensing activity in both the public-safety and business-industrial sectors this year is on pace to set all-time low marks, according to data in the FCC’s online Universal Licensing System (ULS) database.

Through July 1, the FCC has received 6,092 LMR license applications—1,378 for public-safety systems and 4,714 for business-industrial networks—including 600 applications that are still pending approval. These figures are based on information in the ULS database as of yesterday evening—the 183rd day of a 366-day leap year.

If all pending applications are approved, the first-half total would project to 2,756 LMR licenses being granted for the full year, which would represent a 9.5% decrease compared to the all-time low record of 3,046 public-safety licenses being granted that was set last year. This would mark the eighth consecutive year that public-safety LMR licensing activity has registered a decrease, and it would be a fourth consecutive year in which an all-time low total was registered.

In the business-industrial arena, 4,714 LMR license applications have been filed with the FCC, including 528 pending applications. If all pending applications are granted, the total would project to 9,428 business-industrial LMR licenses being approved for the year, which would be 12.5% decrease compared to last year’s total of 10,779 licenses, the third-lowest total since the ULS online database was established.

This projected business-industrial total also would represent a new all-time low—8.2% less than the sector’s previous record low of 10,276 set in 2017.

Not surprisingly, business-industrial LMR activity dropped noticeably as many sectors of the U.S. economy were virtually halted amid shutdown orders in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. After first quarter at a similar LMR licensing pace to the last two years, applications during the past three months have declined by about 30% during the past three months, when the economic impact of the pandemic have hit enterprises hardest.

There also was a second-quarter decline in LMR activity in the public-safety arena, but it was not nearly as dramatic as it was in the business-industrial space. Public-safety LMR licensing activity has trailed last year’s pace by a notable margin almost all year, with a decrease of less than 5% during the second quarter—a trend that could be reflective of the lengthy deployment cycles of public-safety LMR systems, which often are more resilient to short-term economic trends than the business-industrial sector, according to sources.

In addition to the economic impacts associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, the emergence of push-to-talk-over-cellular pandemic has been cited as a potential factor in the reduced LMR licensing activity this year, particularly in the area of healthcare communications and other aspects of the business-industrial sector, according to industry sources.

There also is growing anecdotal evidence that push-to-talk-over-cellular solutions increasingly are being used by public safety during the pandemic, but typically as an augmentation to LMR communications, as opposed to being a replacement for LMR systems, sources said.

When the first-half LMR activity for the public-safety and business-industrial sectors are combined, the year-long projected total of 12,184—assuming all applications are approved—would represent a 44.9% decrease compared to the 22,113 licenses approved in these areas in 2015. It also would be a 69.7% decrease when compared to the all-time record high of 40,171 LMR licenses approved in 2012, but it should be noted that this figure largely was the result of the FCC’s narrowbanding mandate that was supposed to be completed by the end of 2012.

Tags: homepage-featured-4 Analytics Critical Infrastructure Enterprise FCC Federal Government/Military Funding Incident Command/Situational Awareness Land Mobile Radio News Policy Project 25 Public Safety State & Local Government System Installation Test & Measurement Tower & Site Tracking, Monitoring & Control Wireless Networks News

Most Recent


  • FCC approves order to modernize priority-service rules
    FCC commissioners yesterday voted unanimously to approve a report and order that is designed to modernize and streamline the agency’s rules for three priority-service offerings: Wireless Priority Service (WPS), the Government Emergency Telecommunications Service (GETS) and the Telecommunications Service Priority (TSP) System. All three of these services—designed for use by national-security and emergency-preparedness personnel who […]
  • Florida P25 system slated for completion in 2024, will interoperate with FirstNet
    Florida’s efforts to transition its Statewide Law-Enforcement Radio System (SLERS) from legacy EDACS to P25 technology that is augmented by FirstNet broadband service is largely on schedule, with most public-safety users having P25 devices by July, according to an official with contractor L3Harris. Keith Gaston, the SLERS account manager for L3Harris, said that all of […]
  • More Verizon changes: price hikes, departure of biz CEO Erwin
    On the same day that Bloomberg reported on Verizon’s plans to increase prices, the CEO of the company’s business unit, Tami Erwin, announced her plans to leave the company by the end of the year. The developments reflect the difficulties Verizon has been facing amid growing competition in the wireless sector and inflation in the US economy. […]
  • Canada officially gives Huawei and ZTE the boot
    Despite his frothy name, François-Philippe Champagne did not bring any sparkle for Chinese vendors waiting to hear if they would be allowed to sell products in Canada. The Canadian minister of innovation, science and industry had only disappointing news for Huawei and ZTE earlier today. From now on, neither will be allowed to serve Canadian […]

Leave a comment Cancel reply

To leave a comment login with your Urgent Comms account:

Log in with your Urgent Comms account

Or alternatively provide your name, email address below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • Motorola Solutions logo
    Motorola Solutions sees COVID-19 dip in enterprise LMR but claims no LTE cannibalization
  • COVID-19 economic impact could accelerate LMR-to-LTE shift, L3Harris CEO says
  • L3Harris offers free BeOn service to healthcare entities, others during COVID-19 crisis
  • LMR licensing activity remains fairly level in 2019, public-safety sector hits another all-time low

Commentary


LTE and liability: Why the fire service must move forward with digital incident command

  • 2
6th May 2022

Partnership and collaboration must be the foundation for emergency communications

18th April 2022

FirstNet success means no hypothetical ‘shots’ need to be fired, Swenson says

22nd February 2022
view all

Events


UC Ezines


IWCE 2019 Wrap Up

13th May 2019
view all

Twitter


UrgentComm

FCC approves order to modernize priority-service rules dlvr.it/SQmSN0

20th May 2022
UrgentComm

Meet smart city goals cost-effectively dlvr.it/SQmPkr

20th May 2022
UrgentComm

Security for microwave links dlvr.it/SQmNwX

20th May 2022
UrgentComm

Florida P25 system slated for completion in 2024, will interoperate with FirstNet dlvr.it/SQm9cf

20th May 2022
UrgentComm

More Verizon changes: price hikes, departure of biz CEO Erwin dlvr.it/SQlWPT

20th May 2022
UrgentComm

Canada officially gives Huawei and ZTE the boot dlvr.it/SQlGht

20th May 2022
UrgentComm

MITRE creates framework for supply-chain security dlvr.it/SQlFjC

20th May 2022
UrgentComm

John Deere one step closer to fully autonomous farming dlvr.it/SQl7dv

20th May 2022

Newsletter

Sign up for UrgentComm’s newsletters to receive regular news and information updates about Communications and Technology.

Expert Commentary

Learn from experts about the latest technology in automation, machine-learning, big data and cybersecurity.

Business Media

Find the latest videos and media from the market leaders.

Media Kit and Advertising

Want to reach our digital and print audiences? Learn more here.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • American City & County
  • IWCE
  • Light Reading
  • IOT World Today
  • Mission Critical Technologies
  • Microwave/RF
  • T&D World
  • TU-Auto

WORKING WITH US

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Events
  • Careers

FOLLOW Urgent Comms ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookies Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2022 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.
This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. Click here for more information on our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
X