Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Friday, Mar 22, 2002
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Friday, Mar 22, 2002 |
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Info-Tech
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Telecommunications Radio trunking keeps Chennai wired Nina Varghese
CHENNAI, March 21 RADIO trunking services have caught on in Chennai and the city has emerged as one of the fastest growing centres for this service, according to Mr Chandramouli R. Sarma, Vice-President, Arvind Mills Ltd (Telecom Division). Radio trunking is basically wireless two-way radios used by companies, which deploy a number of field staff on jobs such as plumbing, construction, taxis and health services. Mr Sarma said that radio trunking occupied the lower end of the telecom pyramid and globally accounted for just five per cent of the cellular market. The service has proved effective in managing fleets and field staff optimally, he said. The company, which has a 57 per cent share of the Chennai market, has a tie-up with the US-based E. F. Johnson and follows the logic trunk radio (LTR) standard. Recently, the company introduced a vehicle tracking global positioning system (GPS), which would further enhance the efficiency of the companies. Mr Sarma said the new equipment would ease congestion, which was one of the major problems faced by companies. Manual monitoring has proved to be time-consuming and companies, especially call taxis, found that they were losing business, Mr Sarma said. He said the equipment would cost Rs 30,000. The company had reduced the cost by 35 per cent post-Budget, because import of the GPS card had proved cost-effective. The GPS allows the control room to track the movement of the vehicle, he said. One of the major investments for the GPS is the map, which is sourced from Eicher. The tool could cost anything from Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakh depending on the amount of detail required, he said. The system also had an emergency button which when activated would alert the control room to an accident, hijacking or other emergency. The company has put in a bid to upgrade the radio trunking service with the GPS, for the Dial 100 service of the Chennai Police, Mr Sarma said. The call taxis have propelled the popularity of radio trunking service, which has grown to 530 in one year. The other users of radio trunking in the city include infrastructure projects, the fast-food home delivery services, large corporates for fleet management, and companies like Kone Elevators, which has deployed a number of field staff. The company has a presence in Mumbai, Surat, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Delhi and Baroda besides Chennai. Hardware costs of Rs 18,000 to Rs 20,000 have proved a barrier to the growth of radio trunking, with a monthly airtime cost of Rs 900, Mr Sarma said The company has made an initial investment of Rs 25 crore on hardware.
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