Champion Communication Services Inc. is pursuing a trunking strategy to bring enhanced capabilities to its network of community repeaters-a wide area dispatch technology that has been around since the 1970s.
The Houston-based company acquired 1,500 community repeaters located in 22 states from Motorola Inc. in 1994, making it the largest operator in North America, according to Ken Notter, the company’s senior vice president of marketing and sales.
The majority of its repeaters are in the 450-512 MHz frequency band and most channels are shared.
“It’s like a party-line phone with a dispatch focus,” Notter said, but added that Champion will have exclusivity on about 200 channels, or 20 to 25 percent of its system, by the end of the year.
Trunking technology combines multiple channels in such a manner that user requests for access are automatically queued and allocated to the first available channel.
“We can have more units on the same channel at the same price point per unit for the customer and give them quicker access for push-to-talk. This results in higher customer satisfaction and an increased revenue stream for the operator,” Notter said.
He also noted that trunked infrastructure equipment is affordable and supported by a variety of vendors.
“If you already have an existing repeater, it’s only about a $1,000 investment to trunk it,” he said.
The company is expanding its dealer distribution to support the technology.
“We are aggressively working to build our dealer network. Our objective is to make 450 MHz trunked service available throughout our current 22-state service area, and then new markets as we identify attractive opportunities,” Notter said.
