'Walkie-talkies' have shed their clunky image for a sleeker, more functional profile combining mobile phone capabilities.

And the modernised hand-helds ? with various models being brought to market by big-name manufacturers like Motorola and Nokia ? are now being carried in Bermuda by Electronic Communications Limited.

The Wesley Street business has brought out the new models in tandem with rolling out telephone capabilities to augment the services of the radio-to-radio network it already supports.

While the systems sold by ECL ? ranging in price from $475 up to $1,199 for a model with GPS tracking capabilities ? offer the push-button ability to talk to other radio users on the network, they also look and function as mobile phones.

The expanded offering is available over a Next Generation Radio Frequency Network, a popular technology that ECL owner and chief executive Mike Tucker calls "the most innovative to hit Bermuda since the Blackberry".

The technology has caught on almost everywhere except North America. However, the technology is what's used by the US military to keep communications open in war zones like Afghanistan, Mr. Tucker said.

"Our system delivers an ideal way to reduce communication costs while increasing efficiency," he said.

Under ECL's fee system, for $25 per user, up to 1,000 minutes of radio time is allotted and 100 minutes of telephone talk time. And additional calls can be made at a competitive rate of ten cents a minute. One thousand text messages are also included in the price, after which each message costs two cents.

Mr. Tucker said the system is ideal for businesses, including those that need to manage inventory, with it possible to equip the radios with a bar code scanner, enabling stocktaking records to be updated remotely. Mr. Tucker said the technology and radio-phones are also ideal for construction firms and certain Government departments, such as Works & Engineering, where employees are out of the office much of the time.

"The key thing is to help manage costs," he said. "You are not giving out a cell phone, you are giving out a management tool."

And there are also benefits for companies that want to step up their disaster preparedness. Mr. Tucker said the terrestrial system ? that will eventually be supported by nine network sites dotted around the Island ? is a secure, robust one that isn't likely to be downed in a disaster. "It is deliberately designed to stand up when other networks fall over."

The Next Generation radio system kept communications open for police and emergency personnel during the Madrid rail and London Tube bombings.