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services–be it paging and cellular. However, services like PMRTS (Public Mobile Radio
Trunk Service) started gaining acceptability among the corporates and entrepreneurs as
they already had a taste of gadgets like cellular, pager, and radio trunking. They finally
chose to stick to one of them or a combination of them keeping specific business
objectives that these gadgets help in achieving. From a mere 4,000 subscribers in 1997-98,
the country now has a radio trunking handset base of 12,000 in 25 cities where PMRTS
services are operational, i.e. an increase of 8,000 handsets. The radio trunking services
registered an excellent growth of 200 percent. It appears this industry will have a
similar growth, as there are a lot of large tenders, which would be finalized in
1999-2000.
The radio trunking market in last
fiscal was estimated at Rs 22.4 crore, an increase 113.33 percent. Handsets accounted for
Rs 12.8 crore and services accounted for Rs 9.6 crore. In 1997-98, handsets accounted for
Rs 6.5 crore and services accounted for Rs 4.0 crore. To start services in other cities,
the service providers incurred an investment of Rs 62.5 crore in 1998-99, an increase of
66.66 percent. In years to come, the investment in infrastructure will come down. It will
again increase once the number of subscribers increases and it becomes feasible to go for
digital technologies like TETRA, iDEN, and APCO 25. If the DoT comes up with a tender for
start-up of PMRTS services in other cities in 1999-2000, the infrastructure investment
will further shoot up.
In PMRTS services there are
regional leaders. Motorola JV–Groupcom and Procall are leaders in southern and
northern region, Syntel Telecom in the western region, and Mobilkom in the eastern region.
Regarding radio trunking handset, Motorola was the number one vendor with a marketshare of
50 percent. EF Johnson had 30 percent and Kenwood had 20 percent, respectively.
| Radio Trunking Market |
|||
| 1997-98 | 1998-99 | 1999-00 | |
| Handsets Installed | 4,000 | 8,000 | 10,000 |
| Handset Revenue | Rs 6.5 crore | Rs 12.8 crore | Rs 16.0 crore |
| Services Revenue | Rs 4.0 crore | Rs 9.6 crore | Rs 22.0 crore |
| Infrastructure Cost | Rs 37.5 crore | Rs 62.5 crore | Rs 20.0 crore |
By March 1998, the DoT had on
records 27 companies holding 157 licences for providing radio trunking services in more
than 30 cities across India. As of date, 88 licences have been rolled out. In the coming
fiscal, it appears around 25-30 licences would be rolled out. The remaining companies
would start the service depending upon the announcement of future concessions by the
government or will freeze the project before the actual start up of service.
PMRTS Trends
users use three to four handsets. The service providers have to aggressively target small
and medium enterpreneurs who have to run two locations–the office and the factory at
the same time. The entrepreneurs have to be in constant touch with the two locations and
radio trunking is the cost-effective method to do so.
Rs 24,000 depending upon the different brands and make that one goes for. It also depends
on the static or car mounted model one chooses.
from Rs 850 to Rs 1,200 per month, which is dependent on the number of handsets an
organization has gone for.
whereas cities like Ahmedabad, Surat, and Baroda have also made their mark in the PMRTS
market.
segments like transportation services–moving companies, courier services, and
trucking; local transit—car rental, limousine service, and taxi;
construction–main contractors, and sub contractors, engineering consultancy,
electrical and plumbing, and surveyors; services–agriculture, banking, airline,
airport catering, security, freight forwarders, shipping agencies, warehouse, mining, and
harbours.
this technology but now-a-days government organization like municipal corporation,
airlines, electricity department, emergency services, administration department, excise
department, tax department, forest department, health department, fire department, tourism
department, and surface transport department have started using it.
monthly rental varies from Rs 3,000 to Rs 3,500 per month whereas daily rental varies from
Rs 150 to Rs 200.
in Bangalore got a nod from the Karnakata High Court to start the service in the city.
Earlier the High Court had put a stay order on 19 June 1998. The services in the city,
finally, started in January as the transport department started issuing permits to the
taxis. In the race are five PMRTS service providers–Anco Communications, ISL,
Omnitalk, QuickCall, and TeamLink. TeamLink, ISL, and OmniTalk supply Kenwood radios
whereas Anco Communications and QuickCall supply Motorola handsets. The taxi owners have
to pay around Rs 12,500 on radio and Rs 750 per month as service charges. To help the taxi
owners, the PMRTS operators are providing interest free loans for the wireless system to
be repaid in monthly installments.
by the Coolcab brand name.
from 300 to 350 minutes.
radio trunking mobile sets.
| The Radio Trunking Rajas 1998-99 |
||
| Company | Turnover (1998-99) | Subscriber Base (1998-99) |
| Arya Communications | 2.103 Cr | 2,000 |
| Procall | 6.46 Cr | 3,510 |
| Syntel Telecom | – | 1,800 |
| Mobilkom | 1.0 Cr | 450 |
| ICONET | – | 200 |
Future Trends
- In the metros there are six operators but only
three to four players will survive in the long run. In the cities only two will survive. - New tenders for operating PMRTS services in
different cities would be coming soon. The existing operator will go for these cities. - Simla and Chandigarh services to be operational by
1 July 1999. - Digital technologies like TETRA, iDEN, and APCO 25
will take couple of years as the number of subscriber is too small for the digital
technology to support. For digital to come one should have a minimum of 25-30 channels.
Digital technologies will open a host of value-added services and will transform the
service from a voice communication tool to a data and voice communication tool. - Syntel Telecom will set up repeaters in Faridabad,
Gurgaon, and Ghaziabad. - Free incoming calls of cellular to be effective
from 1August 1999 will affect the radio trunking market. - Radio taxi service in Delhi will be fitted with
radio trunking handsets and automatic vehicle locators based on GPS technology. - Service providers have started finance schemes for
availing radio trunking handsets, which will pick up as more and more service providers
sell handsets through finance route. - Few companies will become profitable in 1999-2000
fiscal. - If the cost of the radio comes down to Rs 10,000
the market will explode. - Good business is expected from Delhi, Chennai,
Mumbai, and Bangalore. - Railways, defence ministry, and home ministry can
go in a major way for these services as it will help them in providing better services to
the passengers. Postal department can use it for their Speedpost services. Florists can
use it for the fast delivery to the customers. Traffic Police can use it for better
traffic management. Vineyards, orchard farms and agro-based industries can go for PMRTS
services.