Potomac Spectrum Partners places TETRA order with PowerTrunk amid Hytera-Sepura uncertainty

Potomac Spectrum Partners (PSP) yesterday announced that it has ordered TETRA equipment and engineering expertise for U.S. network deployments from PowerTrunk, which is awaiting word whether its parent company Sepura will be bought by fellow LMR manufacturer Hytera Communications.

Bruce Scapier, managing member at PSP, said the deal calls for PowerTrunk to provide TETRA “infrastructure, handsets and engineering” that will be used in PSP’s deployment in at least three initial U.S. markets during the first quarter of 2017. PSP yesterday provided PowerTrunk with a check for $191, 295.75, which represents 25% of the total price of the gear and services, Scapier said.

“We can pass handsets onto our customers in the $400—or maybe a little above $400—price range and make a profit on it,” Scapier said during an interview with IWCE’s Urgent Communications, noting that the handsets include features like GPS and man-down functionality. “We feel that we were able to offer such exciting pricing due to the fact that TETRA is a multivendor technology.”

PSP previously has announced that PowerTrunk will provide the TETRA equipment that will serve as the backbone of the system, TASSTA will provide interoperable push-to-talk capability and Space Data’s balloon-based system will allow base stations to operate more than 60,000 feet in the air, enabling vast coverage and quick deployment cycles.

PSP previously announced plans to begin its efforts with the deployment of two networks “around the U.S. Midwest,” according to a company press release. A third network has been confirmed, and talks are continuing for a possible fourth system, Scapier said.

“This first purchase order from PSP is the result of hard work, enthusiasm, excellence and imagination of many people who believe in the big potential of TETRA in North America,” PowerTrunk CEO Jose Martin said in a prepared statement.

PowerTrunk is part of Teltronic, which was acquired last year by Sepura, which is based in the United Kingdom (UK). This year, Sepura has seen the price of its stock drop by 90%, and company officials are negotiating a potential purchase by China-based LMR manufacturer Hytera Communications.