The office of the National Treasury Procurement Officer has recently released press reports revealing how, over the past year, government has spent close to R3.2 billion on telecommunications costs. This figure is broken down to R800 million on mobile accounts and R2.2 billion on fixed lines.
From the report, we understand government's intention to save R25 billion in costs per year across the board, a figure seemingly high, but achievable if we unpack it and look at different elements we can identify and manage.
One area of communications which is often overlooked and seen as a 'black art' is the area of two-way radio communications, which has seen the loss of skill by qualified engineers and not attracted any young blood into the industry.
In simplistic terms, a two-way radio system (better known as the walkie-talkie) works much like a cellphone system with the exception that it is a highly customisable solution that can cater for one-to-one as well as one-to-many communications at the push of a button. It utilises what is referred to as push-to-talk technology. From a basic set-up of two people talking to each other a few kilometres apart, the system can be expanded to an entire network comprising repeaters and controllers that enable voice and data communications across vast distances. Users can be grouped into talk groups and integrate through gateways into fixed landlines and mobile phones to create a unified platform where a cellphone can be patched to a radio and vice versa. Such systems are in use today by public safety organisations such as the police, and more recently, by the mining industry and utilities.
One obvious advantage of radio networks over cellular is that they are not only customisable and scalable per user, but besides capital costs of set-up, the running costs are minimal as there is no charge for traffic on the network. Cellular and fixed lines currently charge per minute of usage, whereas radio carries no charge an no limit on the communications.
A recent study conducted by Emcom Wireless on the state of the radio industry at local and provincial government level has revealed a heavy reliance on antique analogue equipment which is not well maintained and a lack of integrated planning in the deployment of the new digital technologies now available on the market. It is common to encounter a municipality using different radio systems and technologies for fire, disaster management, police, ambulance and maintenance. In the event of a disaster such as a mine accident, often the police cannot communicate with the fire and fire cannot communicate with the ambulance services... often operating within the same area. What more when additional resources are required from neighbouring district authorities and even provincial support services. The time wasted in hopping between departments, systems, and personnel often takes its toll on human life, not to mention the logistical nightmare it presents.
Enter digital two-way radio communications and the game plan changes completely. A bespoke system can be designed for an entire province and deployed in clusters covering districts and local councils, separated into functional groups per area. Joint operations and command centres can then be established at district and provincial levels where monitoring and management of incidents and co-ordination of resources can be centralised. Features such as location tracking now available on radios and voice recording allow control rooms to pinpoint the nearest man to an incident and deploy reaction teams intelligently, all with real time visibility of events as they unfold. The integration of cctv, fixed and mobile lines into the control rooms gives real time unified communications and gives horns to improved service delivery and accountability. Going back to our point, besides the initial capex, the operational costs of the communications is fixed and the traffic unlimited.
A number of reputable products and vendors exist in the market with the expertise to deploy such systems. Products such as Tait, Motorola, Hytera and Kenwood to name a few have recently invaded the market with various technology options to empower local and provincial government in this area. The competition for market share and economies of scale have seen digital products released at a fraction of the cost of conventional analogue systems that the market is familiar with. The digital radio revolution that is upon us presents a great opportunity for radio, cellular and fixed line technologies to converge and compliment each other on the continent.
Deployed correctly, digital radio plays a pivotal part in the reduction of operational communication costs for local and provincial government through not only infrastructure sharing but the unification of technologies to optimise efficiencies and service delivery.
Emcom Wireless has engaged in several case studies in various municipalities and has several demonstrable success stories to tell that show a return on digital radio investment realised in under two years. What more, the stimulation of this industry through reviving the aged infrastructure will create downstream employment for the next generation of engineers, technicians and custodians of this equipment, which is what our economy needs right now. This is a challenge to the radio industry to arise and partner with government and varsities to future proof itself and add noticeable value to the economy.
Share