UK Court of Appeal to hear Airwave case in November, Motorola Solutions CEO says

Motorola Solutions today announced that the United Kingdom (UK) Court of Appeal will hear the company’s case to alter the terms of a charge-control ruling regarding the Airwave TETRA network that could result in more than $1 billion in additional revenue for the LMR giant by the end of the decade.

Motorola Solutions Chairman and CEO Greg Brown said the UK Court of Appeal (pictured above) hearing—currently scheduled for Nov. 11-12—represents the “last option” for the company to get the terms of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) ruling that was implemented last year overturned or altered. Motorola Solutions’ appeals to the CMA and the Competition Appeals Tribunal (CAT) to get the charge control overturned have failed.

“What happens in the future? I don’t know,” Brown said today during a conference call with financial analysts. “But I am pleased that the UK Court of Appeal will give this the appropriate audience and review, and we’ll see where it goes from there.”

Since Aug. 1, 2023, Motorola Solutions has recognized its revenue from the Airwave system—the TETRA network that provides mission-critical voice communications to UK public-safety agencies—in accordance with the CMA ruling, which cited antitrust laws in reducing the contracted payments to Motorola by more than 40%.

As a result of this CMA charge-control remedy, Motorola Solutions previously reduced its projected Airwave revenue by $777 million through Dec. 31, 2026, according to a Motorola Solutions press release about the matter. When this Airwave contract extension was signed, the LTE-based Emergency Services Network (ESN) was supposed to be completed in December 2026, so UK public-safety agencies could switch to the new broadband system and allow the Airwave TETRA network to be retired.

But UK officials have acknowledged that this December 2026 timeline would not be met. Earlier this year, the UK Home Office sent Motorola Solutions a notice that the Airwave contract would be extended another three years, to Dec. 31, 2029. Motorola Solutions has recorded $748 million in additional potential revenue—or backlog—to reflect this latest extension notice from the UK Home Office, according to the Motorola Solutions press release.

In addition, the UK Home Office’s issuance of a “Deferred National Shutdown Notice” of the Airwave system also is a matter in legal dispute.

“On April 11, 2024, the company filed proceedings in the U.K. High Court challenging the decision of the U.K. Home Office to issue the Deferred National Shutdown Notice as being in breach of applicable U.K. procurement and public law,” the Motorola Solutions press release states. The hearing on this matter has been set to commence on April 22, 2025.

“The backlog related to the incremental years of service contemplated in the Deferred National Shutdown Notice could change depending on the outcome of the proceedings.”

The LTE-based ESN initially was supposed to replace the Airwave TETRA system as the mission-critical network for UK first responders in 2019, but UK officials now do not expect the transition to happen until the end of the decade, although a firm date has not been provided. With this in mind, the UK Home Office repeatedly has extended the Airwave contract, so UK public-safety personnel will have a mission-critical voice system to support their response efforts.

For the Airwave-to-ESN transition to happen, ESN service needs to support mission-critical push-to-talk communications, like the Airwave TETRA network does today for UK first-responder agencies. This functionality originally was supposed to be provided by Motorola Solutions, but the public-safety vendor giant last year announced it would depart the ESN initiative—a process that was completed in December 2023.

In March, a UK official said the Home Office hoped to be able to announce a new vendor to replace Motorola Solutions on the ESN initiative this month.