Essential Guide to Wireless Communications Applications, The

Private Mobile Radio

PMR systems were once separate from the public network, used only to communicate between closed groups of people. They existed before mobile phones became widespread and were used by people for whom radio communication is absolutely critical. The main users included emergency services, public utilities, and taxi companies.

With the arrival of mobile phones, private mobile radio has become less private. While groups such as the police still operate their own networks, third-party providers have begun to offer services that interconnect to the public network and compete directly with cellular. Marketed at all kinds of businesses and even consumers, these publicly available PMR systems are sometimes known as PAM (Private Access ...