UK Home Office officially cuts ESN ties with Motorola Solutions, but transition work still needed

United Kingdom (UK) Home Office and Motorola Solutions officially agreed to terminate their working relationship regarding the Emergency Services Network (ESN), although Motorola Solutions will continue to provide “termination-assistance services” for the project at least through December.

Information about the termination agreement was published on the Home Office website on Jan. 13, almost a month after the agreement to have Motorola Solutions exit the ESN Lot 2 initiative became effective on Dec. 19. The announcement notes that Motorola Solutions will provide “termination-assistance services … for an initial period of 12 months” ending on Dec. 18. The reference to an “initial period” likely implies that subsequent periods of termination-assistance service could be contracted in the future, if necessary.

Under the Lot 2 contract, Motorola Solutions was tasked with developing software and services for the ESN—the LTE-based public-safety broadband network for UK first responders—including a public-safety-grade push-to-talk (PTT) solution. Officials deemed the PTT solution as crucial, because the PTT implementation would let UK public-safety agencies migrate their mission-critical voice operations to LTE. This, in turn, would allow the Home Office to shut down the Airwave TETRA system that many UK officials have deemed to be too expensive.

Original plans called for this TETRA-to-LTE PTT transition to begin in 2016 and be completed by the end of 2019, when the initial Airwave was due to expire. But neither the ESN network nor the PTT solution was ready in 2019. As a result, that timeline has been extended twice, with ESN completion currently set for the end of 2026.

However, filings associated with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) investigation of Motorola Solutions regarding Airwave express doubt that the Home Office will be able to retire the TETRA network in 2026. In fact, some references in the documents contemplate the notion that the ESN may not replace Airwave until 2030 or later.

Motorola Solutions’ termination from the ESN contract was not surprising, as the company announced its plans to exit the UK public-safety broadband project last fall. In filings with the CMA, Home Office officials repeatedly have noted the need for Motorola Solutions—if exited from the ESN development—to provide an interworking solution that will allow users of ESN and TETRA to communicate.

Delivering some sort of interworking capability to support LTE-LMR communications is one of the tasks that Motorola Solutions is expected to accomplish this year, according to a company statement provided to IWCE’s Urgent Communications about the ESN termination agreement.

“Motorola Solutions has agreed with the U.K. Home Office to end our role in the ESN programme,” according to the Motorola Solutions statement. “Motorola Solutions will continue to support ESN by providing certain ‘Lot 2’ transitional services for the next 12 months and an interworking interface capability that will enable the Home Office to facilitate interoperable communications between ESN and Airwave in the next phase of the programme.

“In addition, the company will continue to deliver and maintain the essential Airwave network, which is relied upon by the U.K. emergency services and operates at the highest levels.

“Motorola Solutions will also continue to provide its full mission-critical technology ecosystem—including devices, control room software, in-field mobility applications and video security solutions—to support the agencies that rely on these solutions to help keep their emergency services personnel and communities safe every day.”

This termination agreement provides a path for Motorola Solutions to exit the ESN project, but the Home Office has not yet publicly announced its plans to fill the vendor giant’s role in the UK public-safety LTE initiative. Multiple industry sources have indicated that the Home Office last year conducted an inquiry proceeding to solicit potential new ideas for implementing the ESN, but a formal procurement has not been initiated.

Potential ESN alternatives to Motorola Solutions has been the source of considerable speculation for some time. The Airbus consortium that recently won the France RRF public-safety broadband contract and completed the BroadWay interoperability testing in Europe is considered a serious candidate. The Frequentis consortium—the other vendor group to complete the BroadWay testing—also is mentioned.

Another possibility would be to have the EE—the UK carrier that was charged with building out most of the ESN infrastructure—spearhead the Lot 2 work with contractors, much like AT&T does for the FirstNet public-safety system in the U.S.

Large LTE vendors with critical-communications experience like Ericsson and Samsung also were named as potential candidates to fill the Lot 2 role.

Several industry sources told IWCE’s Urgent Communications that they question whether the UK Home Office can conduct a procurement process and have a new Lot 2 vendor in place by the Dec. 18 date cited in the Motorola Solutions termination agreement. However, because the Home Office announcement references this year as the “initial period,” most did not consider this to be a significant issue.

Meanwhile, all parties are awaiting the outcome of the CMA investigation into Motorola Solutions’ ownership of the Airwave TETRA network that has been the foundation of mission-critical voice communications by UK public-safety personnel for the last 20 years.

In October, the CMA issued its preliminary findings that the terms of the four-year Airwave extension deal signed less than a year ago by the Home Office should be changed, apparently cutting Motorola Solutions’ revenue from the agreement by more than 50%—a projected loss of more than 800 million pounds (about $1 billion or more) during the next four years.

In a filing released in December, the Home Office expressed support for the CMA preliminary decision to control pricing for Motorola Solutions’ nationwide Airwave TETRA network, but they also sought recovery of more than $600 million more and to expose the LMR vendor giant to potential divestiture requirements.

CMA officials were scheduled to conduct response hearings with relevant parties in December and January. A Motorola Solutions’ spokesperson confirmed to IWCE’s Urgent Communications that the company’s response hearing was completed earlier this month.

The CMA is scheduled to release the final report for its investigation in February, which would be two months ahead of the statutory deadline in April. Motorola Solutions CEO Greg Brown has noted that there are avenues for the company to appeal the decision, if it wants.