The TCCA white paper seeks to establish a common definition of mission-critical users in an increasingly diverse communications ecosystem.

Key findings include:

• Mission-critical users extend far beyond traditional public safety organizations and now include critical infrastructure operators, utilities, transportation authorities, energy companies, border security agencies, defense organizations and industrial sectors.

• The defining characteristic of a mission-critical user is not the type of organization but the operational consequences of communication failure. Loss of communications can directly impact public safety, operational continuity, national security, environmental protection or economic stability.

• Mission-critical users require communications systems that provide exceptional levels of reliability, availability, resilience, security, priority and interoperability.

• The migration from narrowband LMR technologies such as TETRA and P25 to broadband-based 3GPP MCX services is driving convergence across multiple user communities with similar operational requirements.

• Standards-based MCX technologies, including MCPTT, MCData and MCVideo, are becoming essential tools for supporting a broader range of mission-critical operations.

• A common industry definition helps governments, regulators, operators and vendors better plan networks, policies and procurement strategies for future critical communications services.

The paper concludes that mission-critical communications are increasingly becoming a cross-sector requirement, supporting a wide range of organizations whose operations are essential to public safety, national resilience and critical infrastructure protection.

Read the whitepaper here