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The Public Mobile Radio Trunking Services (PMRTS) have all along been an underdog of the VAS sector. As a result, it has been unable to rise to its full potential in India as in the other parts of the world. This is largely due to continuing apathy from DoT-the last TRAI recommendations dated January 2003 have still not been implemented. It does appear then that the TRAI too has washed its hands off the issue. Instead, it is content watching the exponential growth of subscribers of every other service, and DoT's continuing inaction on the PMRTS industry. After all, a telecom regulator is only supposed to recommend-implementing or not implementing is the licensor's job.

Meanwhile, the PMRTS operators continue their struggle, shackled by a stone-age regulatory regime, a completely insensitive licensor and regulator which is hell bent on administering an after-death life-saving drug, just as it did with the paging industry. PMRTS, perhaps, is the only service that is still licensed on a city-wide and not circle-wide basis. Despite no objections from any quarters, this, along with many other growth enabling regulations, continues to gather dust in the many labyrinths of DoT. The joke in the PMRTS industry is that DoT responds every three years, only this time it is trying to create a new record. The PMRTS industry is permanently in the representation mode, briefing a new officer virtually every year.

Vipen Malhotra, president, Mobile Trunked Radio Operator's Association (MTROA)

Success in the Face of Opposition
Nevertheless, the PMRTS industry has recorded better than the historical growth of 15% in the subscriber base last financial year. This is due to the dogged determination of the industry to stay afloat, despite such life threatening policies/regulations in force. As of March 2006, the total subscriber base of PMRTS stood at over 30,000 subscribers. Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, and Chennai together accounted for 71.93% of the market share. Delhi, which includes NCR, led with a share of 10,192 subscribers followed by Bangalore, Mumbai, and Chennai with a share of 5,300, 4,450, and 3,150 subscribers respectively.

Needless to say, with approximately 25 mn subscribers being added to the cellular network-both GSM and CDMA-in the year 2005 alone, the number of PMRTS subscribers is not even 0.04% of the 85 mn wireless subscriber landscape today.

It is truly unfortunate that PMRTS is not being utilized to the optimum when almost every other nation has recognized its unique niche. Several countries have enabled it with pragmatic regulation resulting in PMRTS subscribers constituting 2-5% of the wireless space. In India, however, both the licensor and the regulator are apparently apprehensive that such a regulation, if implemented, will gobble up the cellular industry. The fallacy in the logic is not visible to anyone here, even when such fears have proved to be completely unfounded in other nations, with 100% PSTN connectivity given to PMRTS operators. Surprisingly, all this in an age where 3G services are on the anvil and we talk of a liberalized regime! It is sad that PMRTS must remain plagued by the poverty of imagination and the blinkered vision of the authorities.

Superior Technology
It would be pertinent to revisit the role of PMRTS. The unique benefits it offers in terms of push-to-talk are vital to user groups who need to communicate in an emergency such as a fire or an accident. It is equally applicable when one needs to address a large mobile user group at the same time to determine who is best placed to do a job at that instant. No other technology has been able to replicate this. In a noisy or dusty ambience, PMRTS is inimitable with its high voice-level threshold and rugged handsets. No other device permits management by listening in. Moreover, in a single-site operation, the analog technology is nearly as spectrum efficient as its digital equivalent.

Woes Unabated
Despite constituting less than 0.04% of cellular subscribers today, PMRTS operators pay between 8-9% of their revenues as license and spectrum fee to DoT and WPC (wireless, planning and coordination wing of the Ministry of Communications). This is in total violation of the spirit of TRAI recommendations for an ailing industry. The migration to digital, justifiable only in the metros, remains a distant dream given the unviable regulation. Further, DoT's insistence on going digital for all new licenses has deprived the PMRTS operators of several opportunities, such as, starting a new service even in the upcoming second-tier cities like Chandigarh, where there is no business case for going digital even in the next 10 years.

It is still not too late. Will DoT and TRAI wake up and take notice and do what is necessary to take the industry to its realizable potential, which is over 100 times the size that we see today?

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