Most European nations have a dedicated, well-established & trusted, specialised critical communications operator sitting between the Interior Ministry and the public safety agencies & end-users. This same operator is ideally placed to lead the transition from narrowband TETRA to broadband LTE/5G taking into account local requirements & conditions. UK Home Office/ESN are increasingly looking like outliers, struggling to deliver an operational public safety LTE network in spite of being one of the first to start their transition, & now embroiled in a lengthy & highly damaging dispute with its key technology supplier. Can ESN actually ever be delivered under the current model or does the UK need to align more with its European counterparts to get ESN over the line?