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Motorola eyeing mobile trunked radio market in Andhra

Apart from the police department, MTR is being increasingly used by the AP Road Transport Corporation, the aquaculture sector for indenting ice at the right time to maintain the freshness of the shrimp catch, and the AP forest department.

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Andhra Pradesh is the first state to have done 'wireless mapping', resulting in all the 23 districts being brought under the mobile trunked radio system.

It is being used by the collectorates for their closed group communication needs, thus saving on huge expenditure on competing facilities such as mobile phones. Motorola has supplied its systems to 20 districts, with the remaining being targeted by Punwire and Meltron.

According to Ramneek Chopra, sales manger for Motorola India's radio products group, the trunked radio systems industry has taken up with the Wireless Planning and Coordination wing of the Department of Telecommunications, the issue of releasing a few channels for 'citizens band' so that it could become a cost-effective communication system for even small group users.

"Once the clearance is through, we will start merchandising the product," he said, adding that the new vistas of applications are being probed by the company as it is still in its infancy in India. "It is concept selling and we have to develop the market by highlighting its advantages over the cellular phone system," Chopra said, adding that the target would, therefore, be the rural and semi-urban regions where cellular phones have lesser appeal.

In Andhra Pradesh, some small corporations have also been using it to communicate with their factories in outlying areas.

Motorola, which is the market leader in the MTR communication systems in the country, is currently holding a road-show here, jointly with Link Well Electronics Limited, its dealers for trunked radio systems.

After an exhibition cum-awareness campaign at Goa, Ahmedabad and Bhopal, the road-show is slated to go to Madras and later to Calcutta.

Instant communication, with accent on efficiency in connectivity with practically no recurring cost - as it is not a dial-up system - is the sales pitch of the company.

- Compiled from the Indian media

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