'Digital PTT service is miles ahead of telephony'
May 9, 2008

Procall, a division of Agrani, has introduced Digital Push-To-Talk (PTT) service in the Indian market, facilitating unlimited communication in a closed user group. Alok Kiran Divatia, CMO of Procall in an interview with Sharmee Roy gave more insights about how this service would facilitate businesses and also shared company's plans for Indian market

Give us a brief on digital PTT as a technology. How does it work?

PTT communication (also called "Dispatch") on radio frequency allows unlimited number of users in a "Closed User Group (CUG)" communicate with their team members for unlimited time at a fixed monthly charge. Users can talk with one or many or all members in the group instantly at the push of a button.

PTT started off as a widely used technology in construction and security services segment. This technology helps users to connect instantly within their talk group and outside their talk group at the push of a button.

Digital PTT service provides a much more user-friendly communications tool than the earlier analog version. Users benefit from clearer digital sound, longer battery life, lighter weight handsets, and a wider selection of eye appealing handsets at lower prices. Existing two-way wireless communication in India is largely based on analog radio technology. And analog RTS has certain inherent problems like large size of the handsets, limited choice of models, high cost of handsets, connectivity issues, network capacity constraints and limited or no data capabilities.

Procall is India's first company to launch digital PTT service. iDEN is a Motorola proprietary technology based on Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), with a city specific Mobile Switch Office (MSO) connected to cell - sites through fiber optic cables and / or Microwave backhaul.

What are your plans for the Indian market?

We are currently starting off with Karnataka, Bangalore to be precise and sampling 30-35 cell sites this quarter. After Bangalore, we plan to introduce it in Delhi, Mumbai. We have license for the circles of Kolkata, Maharashtra and Goa, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh as well and have applied in seven more circles for the Digital PMRTS licenses for the circles of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh (West), Madhya Pradesh and Kerala. Also, we have to have 90 to 95 percent on road coverage.

This is a premium B2B service and is more metro centric right now. In the fiscal year 2009 - '10, we have planned to launch our digital PTT services for Kolkata, Maharashtra, Goa, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh circles for which the necessary licenses are in place. Procall will service 15 telecom circles across India by the end of fiscal year 2010 - '11 and also will into the B class cities, primarily the state capitals.

What kind of future do you see for digital PTT in Indian market in terms of adoption rate? How will it affect Analog market?

Globally the digital PMRTS market is witnessing a CAGR in excess of 40%. Given a low base of analog PMRTS subscribers in the country and the enormous growth being experienced by the entire country in telecom as well as other sectors, Procall is targeting a subscriber base of over one million in India over the next three years.

The digital PTT services will definitely impact the use of analog PMRTS in cities where the digital network is being rolled out, however Procall also has aggressive plans to simultaneously rollout Analog PMRTS in many cities across India. We are associated with companies, viz., Quickcalls, Smarttalk and Bhilwara Telenet and have been present in the Analog Public Mobile Radio Trunking Servic(PMRTS) industry segment since 1995. Currently, Procall and its associated companies have in excess of 18,000 subscribers in the analog PMRTS space, constituting 53% of the overall national subscriber base. Operational in the seven major cities of India, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Mumbai and Pune, Procall's Analog PMRTS business caters to over 100 institutional customers spread across various public and private sector organizations, including government agencies.

Is there any kind of security or other concern when it comes to this technology? Can the management monitor the calls?

The very fact that any PTT service empowers group communications means it naturally provides the ability to any supervisor to become part of the communication. This ability is used more for better coordination and enhances efficiency and productivity rather than the need to tap any communication.

As a service provider, Procall has to provide legitimate, lawful interception of calls to the security agencies as duly empowered by the Government of India and will abide by all stipulations that the Government and Regulatory Authorities specify from time to time.

Which are the verticals that will benefit from this service and how?

The basic compelling USP of the product is instantaneous one-to-many or one-to-one communication at the push of a button. Any vertical which requires business conferencing will benefit from the services. Typical examples would be vehicle fleets used for personnel and cargo transportation, airlines, air caterers, hotels and hospitality sector, IT & ITES, manufacturing, FMCG and FMCD field sales forces, health care, retail, security services, construction, etc.

Apart from its core offering of one-to-many and one-to-one communication, Procall will be offering various industry segments a unique opportunity to incorporate multi - tasking through a simple handset. Each iDEN handset is equipped with assisted GPS which will enable optimum fleet management operations for employee transportation in the IT / ITES segment or fleet management for taxi fleets, courier and cargo, transportation verticals.

Since every Procall handset is also fully JAVA enabled, other unique Value Added Services like Barcode Scanning and Swipe Card Applications will enable more efficient and timely roster management, supply chain management, etc.

Procall will be providing premium B2B specialized, custom made communication solutions to large business houses, institutes and corporates, in specific Metro's and Class A cities only. However, Procall's Digital PTT Service is not a cellular service and will primarily focus on niche business applications.