U.S. Land Mobile Radio Licensing Activity Remained Flat in 2023

In the first 16 years of the ULS, the business-industrial sector saw at least 11,250 licenses approved. However, since 2017, the annual total has failed to reach 10,000.

According to an article published on the website of Urgentcomm, the number of LMR licensing activities in the US for public-safety and business-industrial sectors remained at low levels in 2023, according to data from the FCC's Universal Licensing System (ULS) database.

In the public-safety space, 3,029 LMR licensing applications were received by the FCC, with 2,999 being approved so far. Even if the remaining 30 applications are granted, it would still be the second-lowest number in the 23-year history of the ULS.

The only lower number was in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This marks the fifth time in the past six years that the number of licenses granted for public-safety has been between 3,000 and 3,200. This is significantly lower compared to the first 17 years of the ULS, where at least 3,400 licenses were granted every year.

In 2012, a record-high of 10,602 licenses were approved due to a narrowbanding mandate. The business-industrial sector also saw a decrease in LMR licensing, with 9,821 applications submitted and 9,508 being granted so far. This is a slight increase compared to last year, but still fails to reach 10,000 licenses for the fourth consecutive year.

In the first 16 years of the ULS, the business-industrial sector saw at least 11,250 licenses approved. However, since 2017, the annual total has failed to reach 10,000.

Even with the remaining 313 pending applications being approved, the 2023 total would still be a 66.8% decrease from the record-high of 29,569 licenses granted in 2012 due to narrowbanding.