Last year saw a spurt in the interest level amongst customers which could use vehicle tracking solutions. The predominance of vehicle-mobiles over handsets continued with the growth of three verticals viz., call-centres, radio-taxis and cash-vans (used for ATM stuffing).

On the Policy front, and consequently on the technology front, unfortunately, there was only bad news. Agrani Wireless, Subhas Chandra-promoted company set up after acquired shareholding of the Procall, Quickcalls, Bhilwara Telenet, and Smartalk has the intention of implementing digital PMRT networks in several cities but has put it on hold until the regulatory regime is improved. Call centres, government departments, municipal corporations, security, construction, schools, cash vans, radio-taxis, consulates, courier and cargo, logistics. Mobilkom, another leading operator has managed to rope in some big corporate customers like NTPC, NDTV, NDMC, Dominos, PowerGrid. However, due to bad market condition and dearth of clients forced Mobilkom to close its operation in Mumbai, Bhopal, Chandigarh, and Kolkata The recent TRAI recommendations have been a mixed bag. The clarification that the 5% revenue share, paid as license fees to DoT, covers the DoT + WPC license fees and royalty for spectrum use, and also the clarification that revenue from the sale of handsets cannot be treated as revenue for the purpose of computing AGR, has been welcomed. Restricting PSTN access and denying a numbering plan by TRAI is seen as a hurdle towards introduction of digital technology.

EXPERTS PANEL Prashant Saraogi, director, Mobilkom India Sanjay Srivastava, CEO, Agrani Wireless Services