Critical Communications Today - TCCA celebrates 30 years

Nov 07, 2024

TCCA is marking its 30-year anniversary in 2024, highlighting what the association has achieved during that time.

Discussing the milestone in a statement, a TCCA spokesperson said: “For 30 years, TCCA has been at the forefront of promoting the use of standardised technologies to deliver mission-critical communication systems that are secure, available, resilient, interoperable and, ultimately, trusted.

“In the five years since we marked our 25th anniversary, much has been achieved despite the global pandemic. We would like to thank all our members and partners for their hugely valued support and contributions that combine to deliver the collaborative advancement of critical communications.”

Discussing its work in a wide-ranging statement, the organisation highlighted various working groups and task forces operating across a range of core issues for the sector.

Topics for these include “broadband callout, broadband spectrum, cybersecurity, high-power user equipment, massive mission-critical video, mission-critical applications and devices, mission-critical roaming, narrowband-broadband interworking, physical network infrastructure security, non-terrestrial networks, and quality of service and priority and pre-emption”.

The spokesperson continued: “Critical broadband is moving forward with projects around the world in various stages.

“Our work as the Market Representation Partner for critical communications in 3GPP is [incorporating] the unique requirements of mission-critical users into the defined features of 3GPP Releases, [forming] the basis for the development of standardised products and services for critical broadband.”

Illustrating a recent success in this area, the statement mentions the Global Certification Forum’s decision to add 3GPP-based Mission Critical Services to its certification programme. This comes after “several years of work by dedicated individuals”.

Moving onto TCCA’s ongoing work in relation to the TETRA standard, the spokesperson continued: “Certification and interoperability is essential to ensure a thriving market, as proved by the ongoing growth of TETRA technology, underpinned by our world-leading TETRA Interoperability [IOP] process.

“Regarding enhancing TETRA security – with the support of industry and ETSI – the new additional TETRA Set B security algorithms have been published. Our Technical Forum worked hard to include these into the TETRA interoperability profiles and test plans, meaning products using the new algorithms can now be IOP tested.”

Commenting on this aspect of the association’s work, TCCA Board chair Mladen Vratonjic said: “During all these years, the market has shown that this kind of association was necessary.

“TETRA is not only a marketing hit, it is a triumph of quality, a careful and smart approach, a joint success of producers and users under the watchful eye of TCCA. And TCCA initiates the same approach when defining broadband solutions for critical communications.

“The increasing number of members, the better and more comprehensive world congresses, the undeniable desire of all stakeholders to co-operate in the application of high-quality open standards… [These] are a guarantee that TCCA will continue to be a leading player in the field of critical communications in the future.”

Alongside its work with technology and the market, meanwhile, TCCA is also highlighting its presence on the global stage, in particular Critical Communications World. The event, it says, has seen “significant growth” in the five years since the 2019 iteration in Malaysia.

This included in 2020 when an equivalent event – Critical Communications Week – was held online, followed by real-world events in Madrid, Austria, Helsinki and Dubai.

Discussing the show’s presence in Finland in 2023, the spokesperson said: “[It] will always be remembered as a landmark edition, taking place in Helsinki. It was the busiest-ever CCW, with more than 4,800 visitors and five host operators from the Nordic countries supporting the event, truly encompassing its core theme of success in co-operation.

“2024 saw the event taking place in Dubai, with support from host operator Nedaa. The show was a huge success.”

CCW 2025 will take place in Brussels, supported by host operator ASTRID, and co-located with the ASTRID User Days. TCCA anticipates this to be its largest-ever edition of the event, with “a record number of visitors and exhibitors”.