FY 2008-09 was a disappointing year for the public mobile radio trunking
segment in terms of subscribers as well as innovations and new offerings. Most
of the operators showed negative growth, and their subscriber base also slipped
to around 32,559 by the end of March 2009, plummeting by 11.54% as compared to
the subscriber base of 36,804 in FY 2007-08.
According to Voice&Data, the total market size of radio trunking is close to
Rs 40 crore. Agrani group has dominated the radio trunking market in India. The
group operates seven brands; Arvind Mills, Aryadoot, Arya Offshore, German
Express, United Liner, Container Movement and Jet-Aiu. Agrani group also has
control over Procall, which operates four brands in different regions of the
country. The brands under Procall umbrella are Quickcall, Bhilwara, India Satcom
and Smart Mobile.
Arvind Mills' subscriber base declined by 5.04%, with a subscriber base of
11,222 as compared to 11,817 in the FY 2007-08. Procall also showed a negative
growth of -20.06%, and recorded a subscriber base of 7,760 in FY 2008-09 as
compared to 9,708 during FY 2007-08.
Quickcall subscribers base slipped from 4,668 in FY 2007-08 to 3,297 in FY
2008-09, showing a decline of around 29.3%. Despite the recession, Aryadoot
managed a considerable growth rate of 15.3%, and touched the subscriber base to
1,901 in FY 2008-09 from 1,649 in FY 2007-08.
United Liner's user base nosedived 12.9% and recorded subscriber base of
1,828 as compared to 2,100 in the last fiscal. Smart Mobile grew slightly from
2,449 in FY 2007-08 to 2,500 in FY 2008-09, showing growth of 2.08%.
Other companies include Bhilwara, Arya Offshore, German Express Shipping, Jet
Aiu Skyline, India Satcom, and Container Movements.
Key Achievements
Though FY 2007-08 happened to be a disappointing year for the radio trunking
industry in terms of orders and innovations, major companies like Procall,
Aryadoot bagged some major orders during the period. One of the major
achievements for Procall is the launch of next generation digital wireless
(radio) solution featuring Motorola's iDen (Integrated Digital Enhanced)
technology in Bengaluru. As of now, Procall is the only company to have acquired
the digital public mobile radio trunking license in the circles of Mumbai,
Delhi, Kolkata, Maharashtra, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh.
On the other hand, Aryadoot received some major orders from Avadi Municipal
Corporation, Ajubha Solution, Delhi Public School, Sabharmati Gas, Embassy
Services, GMR Power Corporation, ETL Hospitality Services, Global Hospital, IJM
Infrastructure, Brahan Mumbai Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking, HC,
Ship Building Center and Reliance Industries, etc.
Key Trends
Economic downturn has had a negative impact on the Indian radio trunking
market. A huge impact was felt in the highest growth segment of the industry i.e
the ITeS-BPO segment. Other sectors which are facing the blues of the recession
are construction, retail, airlines and manufacturing. The industry has seen a
major shift from vehicle mounted radios to hand-held radios.
Aggressive controllable cost cutting measures taken by the end customers
caused major erosion in the subscriber base from the above segments. BPOs cut
the numbers of cars by going in for buses, the manufacturing segment slashed
security personnel, telecom costs, etc. The industry saw a 3.5% drop in the ARPU
and -8.7% negative growth in subscriber base nationally.
The industry is facing a shift from pure PTT to other value added services.
PMRTS services are mostly available in major cities and a huge part remains
untapped. World over, the radio trunking industry is shifting from analog to
digital, and this trend is reflected in India as well.
TETRA Digital Radio Systems are scoring ground internationally with public
safety agencies and others through a public-private partnership kind of business
model. Yet, there is no viable digital technology which is available for India.
Both IDEN and TETRA have failed to attract any significant subscribers owing to
very high costs of network deployment and radio terminals respectively.
Hurdles
The major hurdles in the full fledged deployment of radio trunking services
are the absence of a level playing field with reference to captive networks/VHF
radios, and lack of availability of cost effective digital radio technology.
Besides, no new product development by analog technology vendors, and allocation
of very low initial start-up spectrum are some of the major bottlenecks
hampering the growth of radio trunking industry. The non-availability of
handsets/services and high cost of infrastructure roll out have also impacted
the expansion of market size.
Future Prospects
There would be a sustained but steady growth in the market as long as the
PTT advantage continues. The public mobile radio trunking industry is primarily
catering to the blue collar workforce, below the typical organization pyramid.
It is still the best instant, clutter-free communication tool available to get
in touch with the entire group at one time.
Many prime segments of the radio trunking industry are expected to see a
revival in Q4 FY 2009-10. TETRA holds out a lot of promise if the vendors can
reach economies of scale and offer cost effective radio terminals.
The industry is likely to grow through the demand from verticals like BPO,
BFSI, retail and construction. Operators shall increasingly look at migrating to
a digital platform, and creating shared platforms for both public and private
users to benefit from the synergy in subscribing to a common network.
Arpita Prem
arpitap@cybermedia.co.in
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