As we reach the end of another year, it is becoming increasingly apparent that what we might refer to as the national situation is likely to get more difficult before it gets easier.
This realisation comes in the wake of a series of recent ‘disruptions’ affecting both the economy and society as a whole, beginning with the pandemic at the start of 2020. As we continue to struggle through energy shortages, general political ineptitude, and the fallout from Brexit, meanwhile, it will probably come as no surprise to learn that Collins Dictionary’s word of the year for 2022 is ‘permacrisis’.
With that in mind, the end of the year is also a good time to take stock of business radio as an industry, both from the manufacturer and the user side. The sector by no means exists in a vacuum after all, with results always contingent on societal and economic factors and conditions, favourable or otherwise.
That being the case, there is probably no organisation better positioned to comment on the state of the industry than FCS (which stands for the Federation of Communications Services). Its CEO – Itret Latif – and head of business radio, Tim Cull, are the subjects of this issue’s big interview.
Three constituencies
As per its mission statement, FCS describes itself as: “The not-for-profit industry association for companies which deliver professional voice and data communications solutions to business and public sector customers in the UK.”
The statement continues: “Whatever the delivery platform – radio, mobile, copper or fibre – the FCS mission is to champion and defend the role of the professional communications provider in the converging marketplace.”
Within that ‘mission’, the organisation – in Latif’s words – services three “constituencies”. The first of these is fixed, mobile and broadband communications providers, with a remit including all the competition and business-to-business aspects.
The second constituency, meanwhile, is the vehicle installation community, with the focus on safety and certification. Finally, there is business radio, with the organisation emphasising crucial areas such as operational efficiency and spectrum allocation.
Going into greater detail about the organisation’s work, particularly over the past two and a half tumultuous years, Latif says: “One of the key roles that we’ve played since 2020 has been helping to keep our members up to date with both the COVID issue and any potential issues around Brexit.”
He continues: “At the same time, we were also representing any concerns that our members might have had back to government, as well as to the regulator. We helped to facilitate open communication between all the members, alongside the regulatory authorities.
“Regarding Brexit in particular, there were a lot of unknowns. At the same time, while there were concerns at the start, the industry was generally able to cope because it is fairly expert at these sorts of processes.”
Staying on the subject of Brexit, Cull’s observation is that the disruption to the sector was actually fairly minimal, primarily due to business radio being viewed as an essential commodity (or in his words: “There’s been a definite will to keep it going, with customers willing to discuss temporary solutions where needed”).
He also suggests that in the run-up to the UK’s exit from Europe, many businesses were in a position to prepare for any potential disruption in advance. This likewise chimes with Sepura CTO Peter Hudson’s comments earlier in the year (see Land Mobile, February 2022), claiming that the company rode out Brexit by ensuring a surfeit of stock beforehand.
While the circumstances around Brexit have proved to be less impactful on business radio than feared, however – at least according to Cull – other issues remain, such as the ongoing components shortage. The latter dates back to the beginning of the pandemic, with semiconductors in particular being a scarce commodity.
Discussing this, Cull says: “The component shortage is still very much a factor. You can’t do an acceptance test if none of the subscriber units have got a battery, for example. In a lot of cases, businesses are simply having to ask their customers for leeway, and luckily, they’re pretty understanding.
“Again, this goes back to the pandemic, and manufacturers have had to be flexible in every aspect. We’re coming out of the problem now, and supply is beginning to pick up again. But there’s a long way to go in relation to some things.”
Circling back to the subject of COVID-19, the pandemic clearly presented a series of obstacles which all businesses needed to tackle, regardless of sector. For the radio industry in particular, the wholesale shutting down of society – businesses, schools, events – meant that orders were also put on hold for what, at the time, must have felt like an eternity.
According to Cull, while this was clearly a massive issue at the time, post-pandemic, orders have increased in a major way. He says: “There was a bit of extreme disruption with COVID, although operational communications were clearly still required by user organisations.
“During the post-COVID period, if anything, things have gone the other way. A lot of our members now have very full order books, precisely because clients are allowing themselves to invest in technology again. When the pandemic ended, a lot of clients picked up the phone to finally get the system that they’d been promising themselves for two years.
“It’s got to the point now where some of them can’t actually deliver, something which is again linked to supply and distribution problems. One solution that they’ve found is to get really inventive, substituting out with temporary solutions that provide support until such time as the intended solution can be provided. That could include using rented radios instead on bought ones, for instance.”
The importance of resilience
As anyone involved with the business radio sector in recent years will know, as well as changes brought on by the pandemic, ongoing economic dysfunction and so on, things have also undergone a major shift when it comes to the technology itself.
This has resulted from the increasing availability and use of broadband connectivity, which in turn has led to a variety of hybrid two-way radio solutions with 4G overlays for data, such as Push-to-talk over Cellular.
As might be expected, cellular technology is now also a major work area for several FCS members, both in terms of the delivery of coverage and its impact on the two-way radio industry as a whole.
Discussing the changing landscape, Latif says: “What we’re seeing now is increasing convergence between our three core constituencies, consisting of the communications provider community, installers and two-way radio. This is obviously linked to the coming together of the different technologies.”
He continues: “An increasing amount of technology is now facilitated by IP, which in turn allows users to link into a variety of different networks for different purposes. That being the case, infrastructure delivered by the communications service provider community becomes increasingly important.
“From our perspective, while the proliferation of technology and the rise of broadband is certainly a good thing, one thing we have to make sure of is that systems which people are using remain highly resilient and available.
“These are essential business radio communications, after all, containing in some cases functionality which could be described as life-saving [such as a ‘man down’ feature].” Latif goes on to explain his concerns in relation to the always on, ‘criticality’ of business radio. This is something which – at least at present – can’t necessarily be assured for users leveraging commercial coverage, other than via additional special arrangements.
He continues: “The thing which the business radio community always needs is access to resilient solutions, something which is all but guaranteed when it comes to two-way radio. Commercial LTE infrastructure providers can’t promise that characteristic at the moment, however, which is why it’s such an important conversation
going forward.
“Part of that conversation would have to be around standards of resilience and the level of criticality, particularly when it comes to commercial networks. We’re currently going through the process of creating the IP infrastructure of the future, consisting of 5G and fibre. To actually specify quality of service at network level will require negotiation, as well as investment.”
Regarding the standards piece, one particularly interesting piece of work recently carried out by the organisation is the development of what it calls FCS 2020. While not quite 3GPP Release 18, the document provides users with what the organisation calls a “non-technical set of standards” in relation to the assessment of resilience for a given job or roll-out.
Business radio, in all its forms, is a key element in the continued functioning of society. The FCS is a key part of the business radio community and ecosystem.
