Comarco Cements Call Box Reign
The emergency call boxes sprinkled along Southern California’s freeways are stations of desperation to most motorists, phone booths for the unfortunate. But to Don Bailey, those phones ring up big sales.
Bailey is chief executive of Comarco Inc., the Yorba Linda company that designs and manufactures 75% of the emergency call boxes in the nation. As part of a plan to expand that market share, Comarco agreed last week to acquire the call box business of GTE Cellular Communication Corp.
The two companies have worked together for years, Bailey said, with Comarco supplying the boxes while GTE sold, installed and maintained them. The operation accounted for about $5 million in revenue last year for GTE, but sales had slowed in recent years, partly because of the saturation of the huge California market.
Comarco, however, is counting on a new wave of growth fueled by new technologies. Today’s call boxes are little more than cellular phones programmed to dial 911 as soon as the receiver is lifted. Most are solar powered, and the service is paid for through a $1 surcharge on every motor vehicle registration in the state.
“The problem is, people who are hearing-impaired aren’t able to communicate with the 911 operator,” Bailey said. So his company is building a new call box, which will have not only a phone but a small keyboard that deaf people can use to type messages to emergency operators.
The boxes will also have ATM-like screens prompting motorists to respond to questions about the nature of their emergency. Accident victims will still be able to pick up the phone and get help immediately, but people whose cars run out of gas or get flat tires can request help without pestering 911 operators.
The new boxes could lead to a burst of sales through upgrades of existing boxes, many of which have been in place for nearly a decade, Bailey said. The deal with GTE means that Comarco, which had sales of about $70 million last year, is now responsible for maintaining 12,000 boxes in six California counties, including Orange and Los Angeles counties.
Greg Miller covers high technology for The Times. He can be reached at (714) 966-7830 and at greg.miller@latimes.com
