NEW DELHI: Agrani Wireless Services Limited (AWSL) has been awarded the 'best radio trunking company' of the year (2003)' by New Delhi's Voice and Data magazine, an AWSL press release stated yesterday.
Voice and Data celebrated its fourth V&D Annual Telecom Awards last week. According to Agrani, V&D conducted a nation-wide survey before bestowing the award of best radio trunking company for the fiscal 2002-03 to Agrani.
Business tycoon and Tata Groups' CEO Ratan Tata was awarded the 'Telecom man of the year' the release said. The other awardees were Bharti Telecom, VSNL and BSNL, among others.
Agrani is a subsidiary of ASC Enterprises Limited and has recently acquired four companies, which hold 18 Public Mobile Radio Trunking Service (PMRTS) licence. This licence provides it with operational capabilities in all major cities of the country (Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Pune among others).
The group operates under the brand name 'Smartmobile'. The release stated that Agrani is also planning to deploy state-of-the-art digital network to provide PMRTS in metro and mini-metros cities.
The telecom industry saw major growth in fiscal 2002-03. Telecom infrastructure equipment worth Rs 283.40 billion was sold last year, and more than 11 million new connections, fixed lines as well as mobile were added in the country. These were also stated in the findings of the V&D surveys, the release said.