Push-To-Talk Over Cellular (PoC) Before we talk about PoC, let's talk about the legacy competing technology - Land Mobile Radio (LMR) - which provides low bandwidth 2 way communication. LMR is a decade old technology that is used by first responders, bus and truck drivers, oil and gas, logistics, hospital workers and many more. However, LMR is an inefficient solution that offers only limited capabilities. Chief among its many shortcomings are: - First, LMR hardware is expensive and its networks are expensive to build and maintain.
- Second, there are more than 10,000 LMR networks throughout the U.S. which are often incompatible thus creating communication barriers amongst users. Third, these networks suffer from limited range and poor coverage.
- Finally, LMR solves only one problem - radio connection to dispatch. Therefore, drivers have to use many other third party devices to deliver everything they need, thus compounding costs and complexity.
FirstNet The aforementioned limitations of LMR spurred U.S. Congress to create FirstNet, an independent government authority which is being managed and built by AT&T. FirstNet addresses the 9/11 Commission recommendation calling for interoperable communications for all U.S. first responders.
FirstNet is encouraging the use of PoC technology which uses 4G cellular network connections which allows voice communication (instant one-to-one or one-to-many communications), broadband data, and the use of hundreds of different enterprise apps designed specifically for FirstNet (ex. fleet management, time logging, navigation tools etc.).
PTT Users by Network PTT Users by Network Both the LMR and PoC markets have been growing and are expected to keep growing in the coming years, albeit, PoC growth is expected to outstrip LMR growth. As is demonstrated below, from 2019 to 2023, the number of PoC users is expected to grow at a 13.6% compound annual growth (CAGR), almost double that of LMR at a 6.5% CAGR.
Choosing PoC over LMR lowers both capital expenditure (no need to apply for bandwidth, rent or buy expensive radio equipment and build a network, and expensive devices) and operating expenditure (no need to maintain radio network)
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