A growing list of communications companies are hitting the ground running with new products that offer land-based technologies as alternatives or complements to satellites for data or voice transmissions.
Alternatives to satellite tracking have been gaining interest as communications firms race to offer such capability to urban fleets and open the market to long-haul truckers who cannot justify the cost of satellite-based communications and vehicle-tracking.
Phil Jenquin, director of business development with Terion, said such technologies as radio or cellular telephone signals have become popular because the infrastructure is already in place. Service providers do not have to spend as much capital to establish a new infrastructure as the satellite companies have.
Another reason for the increasing attractiveness of earthbound communications systems is that they are more reliable in cities, where “urban canyons” of tall buildings and other obstacles can block a satellite’s line of sight, according to industry experts.
For the full story, see the Nov. 15 print edition of Transport Topics. .
