Ericsson joins 450 MHz Alliance to strengthen critical communications

Ericsson has joined the 450 MHz Alliance to support critical mobile communications networks for industries such as public safety and utilities that require secure and resilient wide-area coverage.

Traditionally regarded as a niche band, 450MHz spectrum has grown in relevance to the mission-critical networks market in recent years. The 450MHz band addresses critical network users’ needs with a wider reach at a reasonable cost.

The 450MHz Alliance is an industry association that represents the interests of industries that recognize the potential of 450MHz spectrum. Its members include communications service providers and equipment manufacturers and companies representing multiple industries.

BENEFITS OF 450MHz

In addition to security and resilience, other benefits of the low-band 450MHz on top of wide coverage include: improved voice, data and video services with broadband; group-based push-to-voice and video; support for LTE, Cat-M and Narrowband-IoT. These services benefit organizations responsible for providing critical services such as utilities and public safety.

LTE, Cat -M and Narrowband-IoT are used for applications such as Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), telemetry, monitoring and tracking, asset management, predictive maintenance and field services.

Manuel Ruiz, Head of Mission Critical Networks, Ericsson, says: ”Ericsson joining the 450MHz Alliance will further strengthen an ecosystem that spans customers, communications service providers and a diverse cross-section of chipset, module, device and infrastructure vendors.”

He adds: “We are strengthening our Ericsson Radio System portfolio with compact and lightweight advanced radio solutions to meet the long-term 450MHz needs of mission-critical users and applications.”

ERICSSON 450MHz PARTNERSHIPS

Ericsson has already achieved several successful 450MHz partnerships in Europe, particularly in Germany, Poland and Sweden. Together with partners 450connect and German utility company innogy Westenergie, Ericsson set up a 4G-based 450MHz mobile network in Dortmund and Werne, Germany.

It is a secure and available communications network that promotes digitalization of the power grid and the expansion of smart grids. It also facilitates control and communications in the event of a large-scale power failure, to support field service engineers.

Ericsson has also partnered with Polish energy company PGE Systems to deliver a pilot LTE 450MHz Radio Access Network (RAN) and Core installation. Ericsson’s solution allows PGE Systems to test Mission-Critical Push-to-talk/Push-to-Video (PTT/PTV), smart metering and renewables integration. The goal is to integrate more LTE 450 base stations into power grid communications networks in Poland.

In Sweden, Teracom AB selected Ericsson as strategic partner for its nationwide 4G network. Teracom uses 450MHz band technology for its wide-area coverage to benefit remote location sites and utilities such as electricity and water.