vehicle tracking system gained popularity

The use of vehicle tracking system (VTS) gained popularity among car users in metropolitan cities, by which owners can check on the routes taken by their drivers.
The vehicle tracking system has helped retrieve about a dozen covered vans and goods trucks stolen on different highways since the introduction of the technology in Bangladesh in June 2009.
“We helped the police recover five stolen covered vans and one taxi in the last six months by locating the vehicles,” Gorky Sobhan, a director of Monico Ltd, told The Daily Star.
Two other VTS providers — Nexdecade Technolofies (Pvt) Ltd, NITS Service (Pvt) Ltd — also helped the police track stolen cars.
A vehicle tracking system entails an electronic device installed in a vehicle to enable the owner or a third party to track the vehicle’s location. In Bangladesh, most vehicle tracking systems use global positioning system (GPS) modules to accurately locate a vehicle.
Three operators have so far sold a total of 6,000 VTS devices. Eighty percent of these devices were sold to corporate users.
“Users also take advantage of the technology to manage their fleet to save traffic hours and dictate right direction to their drivers,” Gorky added.
NITS Service Private Ltd is taking the lead in sales with approximately 3,000 devices sold by April 2010.
NITS established dominance in the market as it sold VTS devices on bank credit.
“Most of our commercial vans are equipped with VTS. We are getting positive responses from customers as we have information that some customers successfully recovered their stolen vans,” said Tanmoy Kumar Saha, sales and marketing executive of NITS Service.
Only four organisations — Grameenphone, Monico Ltd, NITS Service and Nexdecade Technologies Ltd — have so far received licences from Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission to provide VTS.
Sayeduzzaman, manager of Nexdecade Technology (Pvt) Ltd, said the local vehicle trackers now provide services such as engine lock, door lock, mileage detection and fuel consumption.
He said the module is installed at a cost of Tk 12,000 with a Tk 6,000 to Tk 7,000 annual maintenance cost, which is similar to the price charged by other service providers.
Vehicle theft is common to Dhaka. According to Dhaka Metropolitan Police, more than 50 cases on average are filed in Dhaka city a month for carjacks.
With the tracker in place, the police can locate the stolen vehicle by simply following the signal emitted by the system.

Via: The Daily Star