https://urgentcomm.com/wp-content/themes/ucm_child/assets/images/logo/footer-new-logo.png
  • Home
  • News
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Multimedia
    • Video
    • Podcasts
    • Galleries
    • IWCE’s Video Showcase
    • Product Guides
  • 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
    • Cookie Policy
  • Related Sites
    • Back
    • American City & County
    • IWCE
    • Light Reading
    • IOT World Today
    • Mission Critical Technologies
    • 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
    • Product Guides
  • 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
    • Cookie Policy
    • Terms of Service
    • Privacy Statement
  • 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

Motorola Solutions to ‘exhaust’ legal options in UK over Airwave, if needed, CEO Brown says

Motorola Solutions to ‘exhaust’ legal options in UK over Airwave, if needed, CEO Brown says

  • Written by Donny Jackson
  • 9th December 2022

Motorola Solutions CEO Greg Brown reiterated the company’s disagreement with a United Kingdom (UK) government watchdog’s provisional decision to implement significant price controls on the Airwave TETRA network, noting that Motorola Solutions is prepared to “exhaust” all legal appeals, if necessary.

In October, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) released its provisional decision in its investigation of Motorola Solutions’ ownership in Airwave, finding “competition concerns” that allow Motorola Solutions to make “supernormal profits” from the nationwide TETRA system in the UK.

To remedy the situation, the CMA has proposed limiting Motorola Solutions’ annual revenue from Airwave to less than 200 million pounds ($224.3 million), which would be less than half of the 433.5 million pounds ($486.2 million at current exchange rates) in revenue that Airwave reported in 2020. The CMA plans to release its final decision on the matter in February, according to schedule published on its website.

Motorola Solutions disagrees with the CMA findings and proposed remedies associated with Airwave, Brown said while speaking at the Barclays Global Technology, Media and Telecommunications Conference on Tuesday.

“I clearly respect the CMA, but I think their argument is legally and economically flawed,” Brown said during the conference, which was webcast. “I think it’s unprecedented, and I think it’s overreaching.

“We saw the provisional report that came out. We’ve given our reaction to that. The CMA have said that they are targeting a final decision in February. We will do what we need to do to defend our position and defend what we believe. We’ll see what the final decision looks like.”

Although the release of the CMA’s final decision is targeted for February, it “likely will take a few more months after a final decision” before the details and impacts of the remedy’s implementation are fully known, Brown said.

If Motorola Solutions disagrees with the outcome of the CMA investigation, the company is prepared to appeal the matter to the full extent allowed by law, according to Brown.

“If we need to defend and fight legally and appeal, we will exhaust every legal opportunity or avenue in front of us to defend the position.”

Brown previously has noted that it is possible that Motorola Solutions could negotiate with the UK Home Office to reach different financial terms than the significant decreases proposed by the CMA.

“It’s also worth mentioning  that there is a notation in the actual provisional decision that includes a potential invitation for the Home Office and us to agree to a different arrangement than what the CMA has proposed,” Brown said during his company’s quarterly call with analysts in November. “That’s explicit and referenced embedded in the provisional [decision]. We would certainly be open to that conversation.”

However, Brown did not mention the possibility of a negotiated Home Office agreement during his interview on Tuesday at the Barclays conference.

One other aspect of the CMA investigation focused on whether Motorola Solutions had a conflict of interest in its “dual roles” of owning Airwave—the mission-critical TETRA network that supports UK public-safety personnel—and serving as the lead software and services vendor for the LTE-based Emergency Services Network (ESN). The ESN was supposed to replace Airwave by the end of 2019, but repeated delays have caused officials to question whether the ESN will be ready by the current target date at the end of 2026.

This “dual role” concern is largely moot now, because Motorola Solutions last month announced its plans to “exit” its role in the ESN, although Brown said that the separation has not been finalized yet.

“We announced at the end of Q3—on the earnings call—that we plan to exit our work on the ESN contract,” Brown said. “We have not signed an agreement with … the Home Office yet. We are working on that.

“We, with the customer, think it’s the right thing to do—for us to no longer participate in the ESN. That allows a little bit more clarity and autonomy for what they want to do on the ESN.”

Motorola Solutions did not announce its plans to exit its ESN until last month, but company filings early this year in the CMA investigations—documents not released publicly until November—indicate that the vendor giant had been considering the move since at least early this year or during the latter portion of 2021. At that point, the CMA investigation had just been announced, and the UK competition watchdog had stated that one of the potential remedies being considered was forcing Motorola Solutions to divest the highly profitable Airwave system.

Motorola Solutions is currently under contract to provide software and services for ESN until 2024, according to the company’s March 18 fifth supplementary submission to the CMA that was posted on the CMA website in November. The document seems to indicate that Motorola Solutions decided against continuing the ESN relationship after 2024 in an attempt to prevent the CMA from mandating an Airwave divestiture, although a key redaction in the document makes it difficult to be certain about all details.

“Motorola strongly believes this is a decision that Motorola should not have had to make,” according to Motorola Solutions’ fifth supplementary submission. “It remains Motorola’s view that it is egregious to threaten a divestiture order on a business that has operated entirely in accordance with the Government’s express blessing (first through the Home Office who welcomed Motorola’s acquisition in the knowledge that Airwave was in the right hands to deliver a smooth technical transition to ESN; and second through the CMA who after a careful review unconditionally approved the acquisition of Airwave).

“This is especially the case when Motorola is, quite rightly, not in fact accused of any wrongdoing. Nonetheless, this was the business context in which Motorola was placed, and provided the background against which Motorola took its business decision: a divestiture order of any kind would be extraordinarily damaging.”

Between the ESN announcement and the proposed CMA remedies associated with the Airwave investigation, Motorola Solutions could see its projected UK revenues for the next four years decrease by more than $1 billion.

CMA’s delayed timeline comes as the UK government has seen significant turnover at the highest levels in recent months, although it not clear whether this has had any impact on the CMA schedule or decisions.

On Oct. 25, Rishi Sunak became the UK’s third prime minister in less than three months. Sunak succeeded Liz Truss, who held office for about seven weeks after replacing Boris Johnson on Sept. 5.

Meanwhile, there also have been considerable change within the leadership role of the UK Home Office. Priti Patel resigned as Home Office secretary a day after Boris Johnson resigned as prime minister. Suella Braverman succeeded Patel as Truss became prime minister, but she resigned on Oct. 19 amid a controversy revolving around the use of a private e-mail account and was replaced briefly by Grant Schapps.

However, Schapps served as Home Office secretary for less than a week. When Sunak became prime minister after the Truss resignation, he reinstated Braverman to lead the Home Office.

 

Tags: homepage-featured-4 Applications Broadband Push-to-X Companies Coverage/Interference Federal Government/Military Funding Interoperability Land Mobile Radio Long Term Evolution (LTE) News Policy Public Safety Public-Safety Broadband/FirstNet Regional Coordination Software Standards State & Local Government Subscriber Devices System Design System Installation System Operation Tower & Site Wireless Networks News

Most Recent


  • Phishers trick Microsoft into granting them 'verified' Cloud Partner status
    Late last year, a group of threat actors managed to obtain “verified publisher” status through the Microsoft Cloud Partner Program (MCPP). This allowed them to surpass levels of brand impersonation ordinarily seen in phishing campaigns, as they distributed malicious applications bolstered by a verified blue badge only ever given to trusted vendors and service providers in […]
  • Shapeshifting robot can morph from a liquid to a solid
    A new shape-shifting robot can reversibly morph between liquid and solid shapes. The novel design was created by a team of engineers from The Chinese University of Hong Kong and Carnegie Mellon University. Inspired by sea cucumbers’ ability to go both soft or rigid depending on its environment, the miniature robot was built using magnetic […]
  • Automakers against stampede to BEV dominance
    When the president of the world’s biggest carmaker talks, people listen. So, when Toyota President Akio Toyoda said, in September of last year, that bans on ICE cars within 10 to 15 years  will be “rather difficult to achieve” because EVs “are just going to take longer than the media would like us to believe,” […]
  • FCC nominee Gigi Sohn headed for third Senate hearing
    President Biden’s nominee for FCC Commissioner Gigi Sohn will is expected to sit through a third hearing in the US Senate sometime in the coming weeks. That means that, in addition to being on track to become the first openly LGBTQ+ Commissioner for the FCC, Sohn will also make history as the first person to endure three […]

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

  • UK watchdog delays final decision on Motorola Solutions’ role in Airwave to February
  • Motorola Solutions logo
    Motorola Solutions “likely” to exit LTE-based ESN in UK early, company says
  • CMA report proposes larger Airwave losses for Motorola Solutions, hints at ESN changes
  • UK competition watchdog proposes price controls on Motorola Solutions' Airwave system

Commentary


How 5G is making cities safer, smarter, and more efficient

26th January 2023

3GPP moves Release 18 freeze date to March 2024

18th January 2023

Do smart cities make safer cities?

  • 1
6th January 2023
view all

Events


UC Ezines


IWCE 2019 Wrap Up

13th May 2019
view all

Twitter


UrgentComm

Phishers trick Microsoft into granting them ‘verified’ Cloud Partner status dlvr.it/Shqngn

2nd February 2023
UrgentComm

Shapeshifting robot can morph from a liquid to a solid dlvr.it/Shqk9K

2nd February 2023
UrgentComm

Automakers against stampede to BEV dominance dlvr.it/ShpX08

2nd February 2023
UrgentComm

FCC nominee Gigi Sohn headed for third Senate hearing dlvr.it/ShpDcZ

1st February 2023
UrgentComm

Sign up to learn how to successfully manage your Motorola ASTRO® 25 System: spr.ly/60143j8fp https://t.co/XcxiUwzN27

1st February 2023
UrgentComm

Hytera parent cites financial health, but unable to make royalty payment to Motorola Solutions dlvr.it/ShlrlM

1st February 2023
UrgentComm

NATE: Todd Schlekeway highlights organization’s safety, legislative initiatives dlvr.it/ShljHj

1st February 2023
UrgentComm

Cybercrime ecosystem spawns lucrative underground Gig Economy dlvr.it/ShkKbf

31st January 2023

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
  • TU-Auto

WORKING WITH US

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Events
  • Careers

FOLLOW Urgent Comms ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2023 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.