HE MAKES a video call on his phone and within five seconds, Abdul Sukkoor can see - live - how busy his four prata shops across the island are.

Thanks to 3G cameras - video cameras with the guts of a mobile phone - access to surveillance cameras is now just a phone call away.

No cabling and installation of PCs are needed.

Abdul, 49, is a director of Mr Prata, a chain of roti prata shops - two in Tampines, one at Evans Rd and the latest one in Kopitiam the Plaza by the Park at Bras Basah Rd.

While he is a culinary innovator of sorts - Mr Prata's menu has 30 variants of roti prata including Italian Prata - Abdul is no tech guru.

He surfs the Internet but his e-mail messages are handled by one of his staff.

He had surveillance video camera systems set up at two of his stores three years ago but these were computer-bound systems and did not allow him to keep tabs on the go.

The additional SingTel Mobile LIVECam service, which he has signed on since April, gives him that flexibility.

'I need the convenience so that I can monitor my stores using just my mobile phone wherever I am,' Abdul says.

A two-year-old Nokia 6500, a 3G slider with a 2.2-inch LCD screen, serves as Abdul's roving monitor screen.

He pays $18.55 a month - $8.56 for the subscription and $9.99 as an instalment payment - for each camera. He has one LIVECam in each store.

His total cellphone bill has gone up by $5 a month because of the video surveillance calls he makes but that is a small price to pay for the convenience he now enjoys. He usually dials in once a day to see how his crew of 30 are coping with the lunch and dinner crowds, as he shuttles from one outlet to another.

Using the keypad on his phone, he can even change the camera angles. For instance, pressing the number 4 causes the camera to face left and pressing the number 2 causes the camera to tilt upwards.

Only one other director is allowed to use the LIVECams. During a video call with a camera, Abdul can grant another person access to that camera by keying in the person's phone number.

At his Evans Road restaurant, a fist-sized camera is mounted more than 2m high on the wall overlooking the payment counter.

Looking like an astronaut's helmet, the China-made 3G camera has a built-in battery but an AC adapter powers the camera so there is no need to worry about keeping the battery charged.

Besides using the service to check on the cashiers and the crowds at his stores - he rushes over to help when the crowd gets too big - he also looks out for orange T-shirts.

'I want to check whether my staff are wearing my Mr Prata uniform,' he says.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.