Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Cell Operators Latch On To Closed User Groups To Displace Paging Services

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2003 21:14:07 -0500

02-17-03

Cell Operators Latch On To Closed User Groups To Displace Paging Services

P Vinod Kumar

Chennai:  Look who’s talking! Next time you hear the neighbourhood
taxiwalla or the courier boy yelling over his mobile phone, don’t be surprised.
He is the most sought-after customer that cell companies are targeting now.
And it brings in the moolah too.

The Closed User Group (CUG) services offered by cellular companies are
now taking even the feeble beep away from the moribund radio pager service
industry. Chips are also down for the two-way wireless handset
manufacturers who were earlier making a killing by targeting the CUG
segment.

According to industry sources, all major mobile companies are now offering
special services to woo the CUG segment by offering attractive plans. Most
of the subscribers who still use radio pagers in this ‘mobile’ age belong to, to
use an industry jargon, closed user groups like courier companies, pick-up
van operators and dial-a-taxi operators. They are classified as CUG as they
use the equipment only to relay messages within a particular group.

“The mobile companies are offering CUG services at an attractive rate. They
charge a fixed monthly rental based on the number of connections that
particular group has. Incoming and outgoing calls are free for them and the
airtime is unlimited. But they can communicate only within the group and any
call to an outside group number is not allowed”, an industry insider said. For
example, if a taxi operator has 50 connections, monthly rentals would be
around Rs 500 per handset. And if the number of connections goes up to
100, then rentals would be less than Rs 400 per handset. However, the
rentals differ from company to company, a senior official of a Chennai-based
mobile telecom company said.

For the CUG which avails the services, it makes sense as the name of their
game is efficient network management and precision timing. For instance, for
the dial-a-taxi industry, fleet management and maintaining precise timings are
very important. Same is the case with courier companies as well as with
pick-up van services. Mobile phones give them ample scope for free and
precise communication flow among the control tower and functionaries as well
as strict control over timing, an industry observer says.

For the paging industry, the sun has already set for them. Many of the
companies have already closed down or are in the process of downing
shutters. “Contrary to the trend in the West, mobile phone has literally
cannibalised the radio paging industry. With new technology like alphanumeric
pagers, it is still the best and cheapest closed group messaging option”, a
former official of a now closed down paging company says. According to a
courier industry official, mobile CUG communication solution is cheaper
compared to the conventional two-way walkie-talkie.

http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=28275
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