Crime Fighting Gone Covert – TETRA Covert

For the first time ever, IMS Research has measured the size of the TETRA Covert market and confirmed that it represents significant growth opportunities for the TETRA community.
 
In recent years, the PMR market has seen an increase of specialised TETRA users including Covert and ATEX. IMS Research latest study of the PMR market confirmed that approximately 2% of all TETRA users are now using covert devices. This was further confirmed through a recent survey of over 260 PMR/LMR agencies, where respondents indicated that 2% of all PMR users were using covert devices for their operations.
 
This is illustrated in the below figures which show the proportion of respondents that indicated their agency used covert devices and then, for those that did, what proportion of their LMR users based used covert devices. Combined these results give this figure of 2% of users using covert.




This is significant for TETRA vendors as Covert devices offer specialised features that add new customers, in surveillance and undercover operations, to the existing TETRA installed base.
 
The major players in the TETRA Covert market include Motorola, Sepura and Thales; however, IMS Research forecasts more devices being announced over the coming period. In fact, Covert devices are not just limited to TETRA, for example Hytera has its DMR Covert device and there are also P25 devices used in North America for Covert operations.
 
Thomas Lynch, Mobile Radio Market Analyst at IMS Research states “The covert market presents a unique opportunity for vendor manufacturers go gain increased margins by providing solutions in features and hardware that allow specialists operators the confidence to carry out their operations successfully. The current macro environment and terrorist activities including 9-11, the London bombings and the recent attacks in Norway have created a world that remains in unstable and the need for intelligence, both covert and overt has driven this demand.

Source: IMS Research