By Cat Yong
Electcoms Berhad, the largest trunk radio system operator and service provider in Malaysia, will be deploying Motorola’s MOTORBO Digital Radio System across the nation, an undertaking that could take up to RM100 million by the time it is completed end of 2015. A total of 25 sites along the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia have already been deployed in the past 6 months.
That is also the timeframe that local regulator Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) have given public trunk operators on the 800MHz analogue frequency to migrate to the 410-430MHz digital frequency.
Electcoms Berhad’s Managing Director Dato’ Ir Ong Boon Kheng said, “By December 2015, we aim to complete our digital trunk radio network, so customers on analogue can move over gracefully.”
A completely digital system like Motorola’s MOTOTRBO system, is expected to offer better efficiency and experience for customers in verticals like transportation, logistics, manufacturing, construction, security and many others, with a more secure and reliable communications channel.
Other digital radio superiority features include wider network coverage, better transmission and clearer audio reception.
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| Motorola MOTOTRBO Digital Radio System |
Besides that, there is also its ability to support integrated data applications, and Motorola Solutions already boasts over 450 developers, the largest application development programme for the 2-way radio market.
According to Daren Ng, Motorola Solution’s MOTOTRBO Business Development Director in Asia Pacific, there are over 45 million 2-way radio users. 2012 saw Motorola Solutions’ core business providing solutions, support, integration and managed services in the Government sector worth US$6.0 billion. The enterprise segment drew in US$2.7 billion.
He also said the market continues to grow, and he expects a high rate of growth in Malaysia with more new industries signing up. With analogue 800MHz frequency expected to be used for LTE service come 2015, it could even be said that rate of growth of the digital 2-way radio market, to be above 50%
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| Just one of many applications offered by Electcoms on the MOTOTRBO solutions |
Dato’ Ir Ong Boon Kheng said, “While trunked radio communication continues to be the preferred communication channel for many niche users in our market, the ability for anyone to tap into analogue channels created a security concern for our users who required a secure and reliable mode of communication.
“We choose MOTOTRBO Connect Plus as this digital system allows us to customise deployment according to our business needs and also enables a variety of applications.”
Electcom’s Executive Director, Michael Ong had shared that a digital system requires about ten times more sites than analogue.
In the 20 years Electcoms has provided analogue radio services in Malaysia, they had invested approximately RM300 million on an analogue system network.



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