Backhaul, September 2016: the industry 25 and 10 years ago

25 YEARS AGO. The cover of the October/November 1991 issue of What’s New in Radio Communications featured the Philips PRP16 family of MPT 1327 trunked or conventional analog radio units. In this issue we reported on Tait Electronics winning a $3 million contract to supply Malaysia’s state-owned telecommunications organisation, Telekom Malaysia, with a nationwide mobile radio network. We also reported on a proposal for the Radio Communications Products Division of the Australian Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers Association to establish a new membership category to enable dealers to participate in the Association’s activities. And the first commercial MPT 1372 wide-area trunked mobile radio network in Australia — known as the Biscom Network — had begun operating in south-east Queensland as a result of a joint venture between Queensland Communications and Tait Electronics.

10 YEARS AGO. Sticking with the Tait theme, the cover of the September/October 2006 issue of Radio Comms Asia-Pacific featured that company’s TM8260, TM8235 and TM8255 mobile radios. Elsewhere in the magazine, we published a case study on the implementation of what was billed as the first commercial radio over internet protocol system in Australia, for Country Energy in NSW. The company was able to retire two UHF systems as a result. We also had an interesting article on Hollywood actress Hedy Lamar, who co-invented the concept of spread spectrum communications, and a feature on the benefits of a then fairly new concept in radiocommunications, interoperability. Advertised in the magazine was the 2006 Annual Radio Communications Dinner, to be held in Glen Waverley, Melbourne, in November. The event was to see the launch of the “Australia Radio Industry Association”. Finally, Mark Ward of Vertel contributed an opinion piece extolling the virtues of outsourcing in the industry, to avoid being locked in to sole providers, particularly as it applied to network providers.