Page 394 - From GMS to LTE

380 From GSM to LTE-Advanced Pro and 5G

Device to Device Communication (ProSe) and eMBMS Not Used for Consumer
Services
Even though envisaged also for consumer use, it is likely that group call and multicast
service will be limited in practice to PMR use. That will make it expensive as develop-
ment costs will have to be paid only by PMR‐enabled networks and mobile devices
rather than by a larger ecosystem.

5.7.4 Network Operation Models
As already mentioned above there are two potential network operation models for next‐
generation PMR services each with its own advantages and disadvantages. They com-
pare as follows.

Dedicated PMR Networks
Nationwide network coverage requires a significant number of base stations and it
might be difficult to find enough suitable sites for them. In many cases, base station
sites can be shared with commercial network operators but often masts are already used
by equipment of several network operators and there is no more space for dedicated
PMR infrastructure.
From a monetary point of view it is much more expensive to run a dedicated PMR
network than to use the infrastructure of a commercial network. Also, initial deploy-
ment is much slower as equipment already installed cannot be reused.
Furthermore, dedicated PMR networks would likely require dedicated spectrum.
This would mean that devices would have to support a dedicated frequency band, which
would make them more expensive. In the US this approach has been chosen and LTE
band 14 in the 700 MHz range was dedicated for exclusive use by the PMR network.
While LTE band 14 is adjacent to public LTE band 13, devices supporting band 14 might
need special filters and RF front‐ends to support that frequency range.

Commercial Networks are Enhanced for PMR
PMR networks require good indoor and outdoor network coverage, high capacity and
high availability. Also, due to security concerns and fast turnaround time requirements
when a network problem occurs, local network management is a must. This is typically
only provided today by high‐quality networks. Network operators focused on price
rather than quality have typically outsourced this task to network operation centers
located abroad rather than in‐country.
While choosing a network operator that offers high quality is a must for PMR ser-
vices, there is a significant challenge for the network operator in running a shared net-
work. To remain competitive, network operators are keen to introduce new features
(e.g. higher number of aggregated carriers, improved traffic management, new algo-
rithms in the network, etc.) which could be slowed down significantly if the contract
with a PMR organization requires the network operator to seek consent before imple-
menting network upgrades.
Looking at it from a different point of view, it might be beneficial for PMR users to be
piggybacked onto a commercial network as this requires them to adopt continuous
hardware and software updates, to their own longer‐term advantage. The questions are
how much drag PMR imposes on the commercial operation of the network and whether