Is registering 1,000 subscribers within a
year a good achievement? The Mobile Radio Trunking Service (MRTS)
operators in Delhi think so. Delhi crossed the 1,000 mark early
this year. ProCall, the Punwire-Motorola joint venture, has the
major chunk of the subscriber base with more than 900
subscribers, while Arvind Telecom’s Omnitalk, the other
operating service provider, which got commissioned in Delhi on 1
October 1997, has opened its account and has won over 100
subscribers. In addition to this, both these companies have
tapped the radio trunking service market in other cities and
towns, though not as successfully. Are we finally seeing the
concept of radio trunking reaching out to the all-important user
segments? The answer could be yes in some metros and bigger
cities and no in other cities and towns.
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State Of The Industry
The Department of
Telecommunications (DoT) had on records, as of 28 February 1998,
157 licences signed by 27 private companies for providing mobile
radio trunking services in various cities across the country. Out
of these 27 companies, 16 have 31 systems commissioned for
services in 20 cities.
As per the licence agreements, licensees were
allotted frequencies of 300, 400, or 800 MHz on which they could
operate radio trunking services. A licensee had to obtain
separate "no objection certificates" from about 20
existing users (government agencies) of the frequency spectrum,
before DoT’s Standing Committee for Frequency Allocation
(SACFA) issued the final clearance. After that, generally a
licensee puts his system on air and demonstrates it to DoT’s
Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC) to get the final approval.
At the same time, he gives out terminal units to prospective
clients on trial basis, demonstrates usage, and involves himself
in various other activities aimed at selling the concept and
creating prospects which could be later converted into clients
once his service gets commissioned. Once the system in usage
passes various specifications set by DoT, the service operator
can start billing his customers. A service becomes commercial
with effect from the date of commissioning.
Type: Passenger Car Manufacturers Company: Honda Siel Location: Delhi |
src="<%=imgpath%>radio-1.gif" width="74" height="17"> |
src="carman.gif" align="left" hspace="2" vspace="2" width="118" height="99"> size="1">Manufacturing companies have always needed a fast and easy way of communication among various groups within a company (both inter- and intra-departments). Radio trunking has served as a good option. Honda Siel, for example, has the bulk of its employees use trunking facilities. The need for trunk radios arose when the cellular phones were not able to pick up signals from the precinct, especially basements, of its manufacturing plant in Dadri. The decision to use radio trunking for the marketing force bore fruits, says Anjali Baweja, the company’s administrative officer, "when during registration period of the Honda car, various dealers made use of trunk radios to find out the availability of cars to take quick decisions while committing a deal to customers". |
DoT in view of ensuring proper utilization of
radio frequencies had specified in the licence agreement that a
radio trunking system would be allotted with only five channels
each at a time, with the operators needing to load 70 percent of
the 450 users, after which only he could get additional five
channels.
By the time these lengthy processes were
completed, cellular and paging services had penetrated into some
of the segments targeted by these operators. A fact which
discouraged and forced a majority of licensees to drop out.
Radio trunking licensees are sore about the
fact that connectivity with DoT’s telephone networks, by
which a radio could communicate beyond closed user groups, is
still not allowed. Especially, when users migrating from cellular
services expect PSTN features as well.
most players was at its lowest. The industry was just emerging
from a shake-out period, which consumed more than half of the
original licensees. The going was not to be smooth as
anticipated.
Sure, the painful process of licensing and
commissioning of services has taken its toll. It enabled
industries like cellular and paging to take away some of that
crucial chunk of prospects. Dark moods, low confidence, and angst
against DoT marked this period. However, the licence process was
not without its positive side. One, a valuable national resource
like frequency spectrum was not allowed to go waste by careful
allocation. Two, it paved the way for serious and talented
companies to lead the way. And forced non-serious players to
realize that the way to success was strewn with too many thorns,
and pushing them to drop out of the race. The customers’
interest thus was protected in the process.
Type: Tent House Company Company: New Variety Decorators Location: Delhi |
src="radio-1.gif" width="74" height="17"> |
src="tent.gif" align="left" hspace="2" vspace="2" width="118" height="63"> size="1">Radio trunking services are being increasingly used by the tent house companies to avoid the confusion and crises, improve efficiency of the field people, and be in constant with each other during marriages, parties, and other functions. In Delhi alone, there are more than 60 tent house companies which are using radio trunking to improve their business. As it is easy to use as well as affordable. For instance, New Variety Decorators, a Delhi-based tent house company, has subscribed to ProCall. In fact, it used a personal radio system to communicate before trunking services arrived on the scene. Taking ProCall’s services was a logical step, as maintaining one’s own system was costlier and ProCall radios were far more efficient. Says Rajiv Sud, director of the tent house company, "I can take decisions easily now." |
Radio Trunking–The Dark Horse: An
industry–with little confidence till some time back–now
coming back with strength and character, can be best defined as a
dark horse. With an estimated national subscriber base little
above 3,000 now, and the figure increasing by 200-300 every month
at this stage, the radio trunking industry is steadily growing.
This figure would of course look ridiculous in comparison to the
large subscriber base of cellular. Here, it is important not to
forget the huge amount of licence fees which had to be paid and
the dithering infrastructure costs involved in the case of
cellular. The licence fees for radio trunking were pale in
comparison. As for infrastructure costs, setting up a radio
trunking is about Rs 80 lakh while just the cost of the first
phase of rolling out a cellular network runs into several crores
of rupees. All this, meaning that the time it would take this
industry to break even, if things go right could be comparatively
less. The one method of doing it would be to load the systems as
quickly as possible.
The Players
Service:
size="2"> On the services side, we have the Motorola JVs leading
from the front. ProCall, the 49:51 JV between Motorola and
Punwire, is the market leader, with almost one third of the total
subscriber base of the country well in its bag. It is the only
operator which has more than one slot of five-channels as of
today. It is now effectively operating on 15 channels. Starting
off in early 1997, this company is a role model as far as radio
trunking services is concerned. With one of the best sales forces
in the industry today, ProCall almost pioneered the art of
selling the radio trunking concept effectively. What has to be
emulated from this company is the way it successfully penetrated
into some distinct segments like the emergency services,
manufacturing companies, media houses, construction companies,
and small businesses such as tent house companies. Also it
markedly succeeded in converting prospects into real subscribers.
A hall mark of a good service company. However, it is yet to
achieve anything in the other cities worth even measuring upto
its success in Delhi
Golf Resorts Proprietors
Company: Landbase
Location: Delhi
width="118" height="80"> size="1">Hotels, resorts, restaurants, and clubs are
coming up in a big way in all most all major cities. The
competitive edge is better communication and
co-ordination. Which include co-ordinating with waiters,
security guards, bell boys, and the transportation group.
Landbase, the company which runs the Classic Golf Resorts
in Gurgaon, uses trunk radios to communicate between the
company’s headquarters in Vasant Vihar located in
Delhi and its golf course site office in Gurgaon.
Headquarters needed to be in constant touch with the site
office for booking of tee-time reservations. Landbase
used cellular phones fitted with car kit antennas for
this purpose before trunk radios came to relieve them of
this botheration. They now use three base stations, one
each at security site, headquarters, and site office.
Omnitalk which holds licences for 14
service areas has commissioned three systems so far, in
Ahmedabad, Delhi, and Vadodara. It has started well in Ahmadabad
and Delhi with little more than 100 subscribers each in these
cities. Omnitalk, however, is a company with immense potential.
It already has a good number of prospective clients in cities
like Bangalore, Mumbai, Surat, and Vadodara. It is awaiting TEC
approval for commissioning services in these cities. Omnitalk is
already getting to be bullish. It is learnt that the company
would soon be applying for another five channels in anticipation
of loading up the 70 percent of the 450 subscribers allowed on
its existing five channels in its Delhi system.
Quickcalls, the other JV of Motorola, a
49:51 partnership with Bhilwara Group, has had some level of
penetration in Bangalore where it has about 300 subscribers. And
is also operational in Hyderabad and Chennai, though the numbers
there are not very encouraging as yet. Quickcalls management also
looks after the other Bhilwara services companies, Bhilwara
Telenet Services and Smartalk. Smartalk is the only
commercial service operator in Pune, while Bhilwara Telenet
Services in Vadodara is competing with Omnitalk and Punwire
Trunking Services.
Type: Electronic Product Manufacturer Company: Sony India Location: Delhi |
src="radio-3.gif" width="74" height="18"> |
src="<%=imgpath%>electnc.gif" align="left" hspace="2" vspace="2" width="118" height="92"> size="1">Radio trunking can extensively improve the quality of a service department of any manufacturer. It can be used to establish efficient and effective communication network which could increase the productivity of service engineers.
size="1">A case in point is Sony India. Sony uses trunk |
TeamLink, the services from Punwire, on
the other hand, leads the race in Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Indore,
Surat, and Vadodara. In Ahmedabad, between Punwire and Omnitalk
they share about 500 to 600 subscribers, out of which Punwire
seems to be having the bulk. Sources at DoT have confirmed that
they have received applications from Punwire Trunking services
for another five channels.
which is expected to perform well in all the metros as well as
port cities like Kandla, Jamnagar, and Visakhapatnam. It has
licences for altogether 22 service areas. And, the advantage this
brand would have over competitors in the future is that it has
three systems each in all the metros, which minimizes black spots
(areas where signals are not clear).
In the East, it is Jasmine Telecom, which
is the leader. It has about 100 to 200 subscribers in Dhanbad,
the mining city. ITI is one company which leaves a lot to
be desired. It was supposed to do well in the southern states.
However, one has so far seen little activity on its part.
All in all, the potential of radio trunking can
be gauged by the fact that the three metros, apart from Delhi,
are still virgin land, with the markets there lying almost
untapped. Not to speak of the opportunity in the sub-urban and
fringe areas of the metros, and the teeming cities and town
across India.
Type: Commercial Taxes (Vigilance) Dept. Company: Government Of Karnataka Location: Bangalore |
src="radio-3.gif" width="74" height="18"> |
src="<%=imgpath%>vigilanc.gif" align="left" hspace="2" vspace="2" width="118" height="112"> size="1">Government organizations like the Defence and Police have been using conventional radios for their communication purposes. Now even the other government departments are going in for radio communication facilities, especially because better systems and handsets are available. And radio trunking service is proving to be an economical way out as it allows them to skip the maintenance headaches and the costs involved. Government of Karnataka has shown the way in this respect. After starting to use this service, the Commercial Taxes Department has seen the service’s utility in effective functioning of its vigilance wing. A combination of mobile and static radio sets helped in establishing an efficient and effective round-the-clock communication network. This network has facilitated instant communication of valuable information thereby lifting the morale and confidence of its mobile checkpost officers. |
Equipment: The trunking infrastructure
and equipment segment is growing rapidly. Roughly about Rs 6
crore worth trunk radios have been accounted by radio trunking
services. And an estimated Rs 24 crore has been invested in
trunking infrastructure so far.
Motorola is a brand to beat in the trunk radio
handsets market. Here, the company’s strategy is to be able
to provide a handset, no matter what technology the subscriber
prefers to go in for. It presently commands a marketshare of
about 70 percent of the total handset market across technology
platforms. Punwire, the authorized distributor of Kenwood radios
in India, has a marketshare of about 25 percent. And Arvind
Telecom (Syntel), the authorized distributor of EF Johnson radios
in India, adds up to the rest 5 percent.
On the system (infrastructure) side,
Motorola’s proprietary standard SmartNet, MPT, and EF
Johnson’s LTR are the main standards dominating the scene.
In the handset market, the operators themselves
have become the channels, just like in cellular. Here too, the
idea is to start with indirect sales and move on to direct sales,
as the market evolves.
The Concept Selling
To reach cash break-even is the
first goal of any service industry. Some
of the pertaining questions today are: why has radio trunking
taken so long to set up shop? And how long is it going to take
for it to become a strong and profitable industry?
Taxi Services
Company: Coolcabs
Location: Mumbai
width="118" height="75"> size="1">In cities like Mumbai and Calcutta, cabbies have
a life of their own. But with times, the cabs have also
changed. In times of competition, they have felt the need
to form a communication network to efficiently function
together. Both for keeping in constant touch with each
other and to give better services to passengers.
Mumbai-based Coolcabs, a fleet of more than 150
air-conditioned taxis, have decided to try out the
concept of radio taxis. Already more than 100 taxis have
been fitted with trunk radios majorly from Omnitalk and
partly from Arya Communications, both radio trunking
operators in Mumbai. A control room with telephone
numbers has been set up at Ballard Estate, Mumbai, where
customer calls will be picked up and forwarded to all
unoccupied taxis in the area.
Though the target segments of trunking is
distinct from those of cellular or paging, in an immature market
like India, the customer really does not know what he actually
needs for his communication. And noticeably, some of the target
users have already been enamoured by cellular services, with its
various lollipops, which looks a lot more trendier. And so the
trunking operators had a tough job at first hand–that of
educating customers.
The process is already on, with trunking
companies putting their sales force on the road. The hump as they
put it has to be crossed. The transition from gullibility to
awareness of communication needs among users has to be affected.
Once this phase gets over, the spread of wireless services will
be more logical. And users will know better than to commit a
mistake of getting swayed by sugarcoated pills–services
which offer the initial solutions which in the longer run turn
bitter. To be able to affect this transition in the minds of
users would not only benefit radio trunking but usher in a new
era of wireless technology usage.
Type: District administration and police Company: Government Of India Location: Indore |
src="radio-2.gif" width="44" height="52"> |
src="<%=imgpath%>police.gif" align="left" hspace="2" vspace="2" width="118" height="103"> size="1">That the best solution for communication needs of the government agencies is radio trunking can be ascertained by the growing trend of these agencies outsourcing their communication requirements to private radio trunking service operators. The Indore district administration and police force are examples. The district collector, additional collector, and a team of 15 magistrates of this city have been provided with trunked radios, which have significantly removed their communication bottlenecks. Recently, this use facilitated the success in revenue recovery under "Brisk Scheme". The police force followed in their footstep by equipping the Superintendent of Police (SP), and his 12 ASPs, DSPs, and CSPs with radio trunking handsets. Which resulted in lifting up their moods and enabling effective functioning of their jobs. |
Significantly, the need of the hour in trunking
is an intense but healthy competition. Concept selling needs
intensity and extensiveness. Extensiveness, in the sense that if
the concept of trunking has to be spread much faster, it can be
best affected by a concerted effort. "More the torch bearers
the better."
communication industry has already learnt the hard way that
freebies are the easy way to a user’s heart but not
necessarily to his pocket. Schemes are necessary. And to some
extent, subsidies. But, to overdo these would be to kill oneself.
Never to cross the Lakshman Rekha is the writing on the
wall.
Type: Oil Refineries Company: HPCL Location: Visakhapatnam |
src="<%=imgpath%>radio-2.gif" width="44" height="52"> |
src="<%=imgpath%>oilref.gif" align="left" hspace="2" vspace="2" width="118" height="76"> size="1">The manner in which radio trunking has been effectively used by Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) exemplifies the benefits of trunking in an emergency situation involving a large corporation. In a major fire incident in 1997, the HPCL plant in Visakhapatnam looked likely to be reduced to cinders. Radio trunking played a critical role in co-ordinating all resources to fight the fire. A hassle-free communication, the need of the hour, was effectively enabled through it. This apart, trunked radios are being used for security, announcement calls, and other routine activities. |