Background
Max Media specializes in information and communication technology, e-marketing solutions such as bulk SMS services for commercial facilities, financial and government sectors and private entities. The company is STC's official business agent for medium and small enterprises. Recently, Max Media began operating a Push-to-Talk over Cellular (PoC) service using the STC mobile phone network.
The Challenge
Max Media provides its commercial and industrial customers with a greatly enhanced business communications service with a much wider range of applications and features.
They planned to operate a completed communications network, however, it was tough to carry forward because of the difficulty of obtaining frequency points in Saudi Arabia. Also if they provided communications service based on traditional PMR narrowband network, high costs of infrastructures and operating expenses were needed. After a comprehensive consideration, they chose Hytera PoC Solution, which provides a cost-effective alternative to land mobile radio (LMR) PTT solutions, as it requires no investment in infrastructure.
The Solution
Max Media chose to deploy Hytera's HyTalk APP PoC platform solution to manage and secure PoC services for its customers. HyTalk offers a PTT service, full-duplex audio and video services and IM service to meet various different communication priority requirements.
Hytera also supplied more than 5,000 hand portable terminals including the PNC370 and the PNC550. The PNC370 is a compact device that adopts the form factor of a traditional two-way radio with external stubby antenna. The PNC550 adopts a smartphone style form factor with a 5.0” HD multi-touch Gorilla Glass display and 13MP camera. It is both a smartphone and a PoC device, enabling it to support existing Android applications. It is IP68 certified for dust and moisture resistance and MIL-STD-810 G rated.
The Results
Max Media and Hytera continued to promote the PoC market throughout 2019 and the number of users has continued to expand. As of June 2020, the number of active users exceeded 5,000 and the daily call volume exceeded 200,000 calls. The PoC network continues to generate a profit.
The network is serving a variety of end users from different sectors and different application scenarios, supporting mega sports events, big music shows, hotels and tourism. For example, in 2018, Hytera helped its partner win the communications contract for the KAEC golf tournament in Jeddah. Also, the PoC solution is being used to provide communications services to the Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabic, where it has been deployed to support the running of the Kingdom's healthcare system. What's more, Amanco Safety & Security, one of the kingdom's leading safety and security products and solutions supplier, offers a wide variety of products to large and complex private firms and governments institutions with the assistant of Hytera PoC solution.
During the height of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, Max Media deployed its PTT communication equipment in Saudi Arabia's hospitals to enable safe, non-contact communications, including those run by the Saudi German Hospitals Group, which operates six multi-specialty tertiary level hospitals in the Kingdom.
“The Hytera national PoC (Push-to-Talk) network serves the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia well and more than 80 different companies. It is running stably with the support of the Hytera support team. Customers are satisfied with the product and functionality. ”
——Shihab Ali Alyemani, PTT Operations Manager, Max Media Communication Solutions
