Vancouver company sees two-way radio resurgence
From the Vancouver Sun: This may be the high-tech age of smartphones, email, texting, Twitter and Facebook, but a far more traditional form of wireless communicating — two-way radios — is reaping dividends for a North Vancouver company.
“The primary reason [for two-way radio] is that all the other technologies require infrastructure -cell towers, satellite or wire lines,” said Ryan Rowat, managing director, sales and service, for B.C. Communications Inc., which started up in 1989. “Radio has a lot of power and it can transmit great distances. And if there is a mountain [in the way] you can put in a repeater [an antenna transmitter].
Rowat said the company’s systems range in price from $50 for family radios, to $350 to $1,300 for more professional units, to $5,000 for the most sophisticated models. The company also offers servicing and rental agreements.
Rowat said B.C. Communications, the province’s top Motorola dealer for sales and service, has annual sales revenues of about $4 million, and sells about 1,000 radios per year. Revenues are increasing by about seven per cent a year, he added.