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New Private Mobile Radio (PMR) cellular networks are providing
national voice and data services to local authorities, security companies, trucking fleets
and mining houses.
PMR refers to sophisticated radio trunking services that provide facilities for mobile
users in company vehicles to connect to private PMR voice telephony and data networks.
There are currently three major PMR operators offering commercial
services. Together they cover most urban areas and the national road routes. There is Q-Trunk, Fleetcall, and a new private PMR network
called One-2-One. All three PMR networks received their licenses around the same time in
1994. They all provide "bundled billing" tariff structures for a set amount of
voice or data call usage per radio unit, with call rates of around 75c to R1 per minute
for calls outside the set time amount There are of course call interconnects to and from
the Telkom and GSM networks.
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South Africa's PMR networks all use equipment based on the MPT 1327 open protocol for
radio trunking. Frequencies being used are between 254 MHz and 263 MHz and are equally
divided between the three networks. PMR also allows a number of users to share a set of
frequencies, which is ideal for South Africa's crowded frequency spectrum. These systems
are all currently analogue, although there are plans to migrate to the more secure digital
PMR networks like the Pan-European TETRA system by 2005.
Basic radio costs are between R2,500 and R3,500 per unit, depending
on their power output and whether they'll be used in fixed or portable applications. The
PMR operators also offer value added services such as vehicle tracking systems, data
transfer from bar-coding devices, telemetry, and short data messaging.
Fleetcall claim a majority market share with over 8000 users
throughout the country. They see PMR cellular as ideal for long distance haulers, and
security, freighting, and companies with a dispatching requirement of more than 5
vehicles. Transtel holds of 51% Fleetcall, while the remainder is held by Grinaker
Electronics, part of Anglo-Vaal Industries. The AA uses their system.
Of the 2.5m calls on Fleetcall, over 50% were data calls. The average
length of the calls was 19 seconds, which confirms PMRs primary use as a messaging
system." Fleetcall covers most of Gauteng, Cape Town to Beit Bridge along the N1 and
then the N2 via the Eastern Cape to Pongola, and Mpumalanga.
PMR networks are ideal for use in truck fleets since there instant and secure voice
communication between a fleet Control Center and vehicles in the fleet. PMR is a business
tool, not a cellphone chatline. Call timeouts allow fleet operators to limit the amount of
time their users spend on the system. Anyone managing a large business should use PMR.
One-2-One, which launched in October 1995 currently
covers the greater Gauteng region, the Durban and Pietermaritzburg regions, the Western
Cape, Bloemfontein, and parts of the N1, N3 and N4. They use Nokia's Actionet radio
trunking system. Some of the features of their network include an Open channel facility
where a virtual PMR network can be set up by a dispatch terminal; call transfer, system
wide group calls and transparent connection to the PSTN and GSM cellular networks.
Q-Trunk is part owned by Telkom. Facilities offered include data
transmission, PSTN and GSM interconnect, dispatch facilities, satellite tracking, a
Helpline, and fleet management. They are also rolling out their network to include
coverage of a number of remote areas traversed by trucking fleets. There are also however
a number of other non-commercial PMR networks, run mostly by the security forces and some
parastatals.
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