The development of the public safety standard TETRA: lessons and recommendations for research managers and strategists in the security industry

Abstract

In this article we describe the European standardisation of Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) and try to draw lessons for European research managers who participate in national civil security research programmes and wish to develop standards related to their security-specific R&D results. This study challenges the findings from Weiss and Sirbu (1990), which suggest that the political skills of the sponsors of a technology are not significant for its adoption in a standardisation process. TETRA's establishment was shaped by specific people, specific skills and specific strategies. Our study shows the importance of political skills, as well as the relevance of multiple lobbying and negotiation activities in influencing the standardisation process. Specific national strategies in forging alliances, as well as lobbying on the European level were crucial, and their realisation offers lessons to learn from. Moreover, given the indisputable multinational dimension in many security issues, our article contains suggestions regarding dual national-European level standardisation strategies needed, for instance, in the context of the European security standardisation Mandate M/487. The TETRA case illustrates how to pursue such a dual level standardisation strategy successfully.