Skip to main content

GSM-R market coverage grows nearly 50 per cent

GSM-R has been used in Europe for more than ten years to provide voice and data communications for railway and acts as a radio bearer for train control messages. Mandated by the European Commission and supported by the dynamic railway industry in the region, the GSM-R system has established a significant market in Europe. Over the past few years the market extended to regions outside Europe including Asia-Pacific, Middle East, and Africa. Led by Nokia, Kapsch CarrierCom, and Huawei, GSM-R track coverage
December 19, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
GSM-R has been used in Europe for more than ten years to provide voice and data communications for railway and acts as a radio bearer for train control messages. Mandated by the 1690 European Commission and supported by the dynamic railway industry in the region, the GSM-R system has established a significant market in Europe. Over the past few years the market extended to regions outside Europe including Asia-Pacific, Middle East, and Africa.

Led by 183 Nokia, 81 Kapsch CarrierCom, and 6787 Huawei, GSM-R track coverage is growing to 190,000 km by 2020, according to 5725 ABI Research.

Despite being the latest technology that caters to railways needs, GSM-R itself is based on 2G GSM which is now a declining technology. However, in the absence of strong alternatives, GSM-R continues to be the technology of choice for many new railway projects. System evolution and the development of the next-generation networks go hand in hand creating a transition period over the 2020’s. “GSM-R structure is migrating to an IP-based transmission network to improve performance, and lower OPEX, and is a step towards the next generation network,” comments Ahmed Ali, research analyst at ABI Research.

LTE is emerging as a strong candidate to succeed GSM-R considering the growing adoption in the commercial sector and the support from the majority of equipment manufacturers. Embracing LTE-based networks introduces new areas of growth and new market players to the industry.

“One interesting scenario is the collaboration between public network operators and railway operators to create a converged network and reduce cost. With LTE, providers like 4054 Alcatel-Lucent and 5650 Ericsson can further improve the railway solution market and drive competition,” continues Ali.

I’ll send the news to Natalie next week. Have a great Christmas and best wishes for 2015.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Global toll revenues $8.5bn while technology ‘battles’ continue
    April 9, 2014
    ABI Research’s Dominique Bonte talks to Jason Barnes about trends in tolling and how a wider appreciation of technology options is sorely needed. Global Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) solution revenues will grow to $8.5bn by 2018, with ETC becoming a main source of funding for both Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) and Vehicle-to-X (V2X) cooperative infrastructures, according to a new report from ABI Research (Chart 1). But, says the report’s author, ABI Research vice president and practice director Dom
  • Nokia celebrates growing ITS presence
    March 20, 2018
    Visitors to the Nokia stand will undoubtedly come away with a new appreciation for the company as a growing global player in intelligent transportation systems (ITS), highway and smart city innovation. And we are not talking about aspirations. Take just one example: Nokia is the networking technology partner for GeneSys on a 10-year contract for Highways England in the UK. Nokia is responsible for delivering an IP/MPLS critical communications network for the National Road Telecommunications System (NRTS
  • Smart transportation market expected to reach US$102.31 million by 2018
    June 10, 2013
    According to a new market research report, Smart Transportation Market - by Solutions (Ticketing Management, Parking Management, Passenger Information, Traffic Management), Services (Traditional, Advanced, Software) Worldwide Analysis and Forecasts (2012 - 2018) published by MarketsandMarkets, the smart transportation market expected to reach more than US$102.31 billion by 2018, at a CAGR of 23.6 per cent. The market for smart transportation is fuelled by the advancements across the information and communic
  • Smart fleet management market predicted to grow by eight per cent by 2022
    June 19, 2017
    According to MarketsandMarkets’ latest report, Smart Fleet Management Market, the smart fleet management market is projected to grow at a CAGR of eight per cent from 2017 to 2022, to reach US$462.48 billion by 2022.