A commercial broadband solution offers the best way forward for public-safety agencies (PSAs) in Australia, a draft report from the country’s Productivity Commission said.The draft report cited lower costs, faster launches, and a higher likelihood of adopting technology upgrades as the main benefits of a commercial approach. A commercial approach carries higher risk of supplier lock in but good procurement processes and careful contracting can reduce the risk, the report said.

A high-level business analysis of the nationwide public-safety broadband network for the five states comprising the Mid-Atlantic Consortium for Interoperable Nationwide Advanced Communications (MACINAC) found a sustainable business model if state and local government users join public-safety users on the network in the region. However, with only public-safety users on the network, MACINAC would lose more than $7.5 million a year using current assumptions and information from the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet).

ABI Research estimated the total number of public-safety Long Term Evolution (LTE) user subscriptions to reach 11 million worldwide by 2020, with a market size of US$5.1 billion.

Market research firm IHS released data on the Middle East and Africa region, projecting the installed base of narrowband active radios in the region to increase from around 3 million in 2014 to 3.4 million in 2019.

Body-worn cameras (62.3 percent) and radio communications (52.6 percent) were the top two technology priorities facing local government law enforcement officials, according to the results of a survey conducted by the Public Technology Institute (PTI) and Deltek.

The global market for command-and-control room technologies and services is projected to exceed $7 billion by 2019, according to an IHS report.

State budgets continue on a path of stable, moderate spending and revenue increases, with 42 state budgets expected to increase in fiscal 2016.

The market for health care mobility products and services, including mobile devices, apps and enterprise platforms, could reach $84.8 billion by 2020, according to a new report by MarketsandMarkets.

TETRA now represents 22 percent of the digital technology market for professional mobile radio (PMR) worldwide. Market research firm IHS estimated that there is a significant LMR analog installed base — more than 60 percent — of existing mobile radio users that are yet to convert to digital, indicating that the potential for growth of TETRA technology across all major regions remains strong.

The biometrics market could generate at total of US$67 billion in revenues worldwide during the next ten years, according to a forecast by Tractica.