Gujarat IT community to be closely knit through CUG

Following the examples of trade associations in Mumbai and Hyderabad, channel bodies in Gujarat have opted for a cheaper mode of communication for their members. The Ahmedabad Computer Manufacturers Association (ACMA) has tied up with Idea GSM provider for a Closed User Group (CUG) connectivity for all its members. It has also tied up with Hutch and Reliance for the same. “We have taken CUG connectivity from three GSM providers, so that members can opt for any of them, rather select the one which we choose,” said RG Patel, President, ACMA. He further added that the reason behind choosing Reliance is that it is cheaper than other service providers.

The South Gujarat Information Technologists Association (SITA) too has taken steps in this direction. “We chose to go in for CUG connectivity as we wanted GSM connectivity,” said Chetan Shah, member and ex-president of SITA. Within a span of one month, Surat has registered 111 CUG connections against the 350 connections that have been registered by ACMA. Chetan reasoned that Idea particularly was chosen, so that the members of ACMA and SITA would have the same CUG connectivity, leading to wider connectivity across the state. “Within two months, we expect 450 connections from south Gujarat,” said Chetan.

SITA and ACMA together plan to connect the entire Gujarat IT community through CUG. For this, talks are going on with Baroda IT Association (BITA) and Association of Bhavnagar Computer Dealers (ABCD) as well. The main advantage of having CUG connectivity is that all members who have registered for the same can make calls for free to their peer group.

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