Name change for TETRA Association heralds broader role in critical communications

UK: The TETRA Association is changing. A wider scope, and an immediate focus on mobile broadband for professional users, is reflected in the new name: the TETRA + Critical Communications Association (TCCA).

The TCCA is not a new organisation, but a renaming of the existing TETRA Association to reflect a broader remit: to promote the development and adoption of common standards and solutions for the users and providers of critical communications worldwide.

This change is in response to the growing demand from professional mobile radio (PMR) users for mobile broadband services. This demand may be satisfied by the capabilities of future and complementary technologies such as LTE and/or WiMax. The TCCA believes that the critical communications industry should leverage these capabilities, rather than develop completely new technologies.

As the leading critical communications authority, the TCCA is best positioned to recommend the evolution of these technologies to benefit the needs of professional mobile radio (PMR) users.

TCCA chairman Phil Godfrey said: “Changing our name gives us the scope to better address these new opportunities whilst protecting the huge investment of users and industry in TETRA technology and systems. This change in no way diminishes our focus on TETRA. TETRA will be the primary, most important technology for mission and business-critical voice and data services for at least the next decade, and we will continue to develop, promote and protect the TETRA standard worldwide.”

The TCCA will continue to promote open standards and industry cooperation - an approach that is instrumental in the ongoing success of TETRA.