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Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Andrew Corporation is targeting to install 80,000 cell sites across India, with mobile operators expanding connectivity into the interior locations of the country.
Andrew Corp. is a designer, manufacturer and supplier of communications equipment including wireless and distributed communications, land mobile radio, cellular and personal communications, broadcast, radar, and navigation.
Highlighting the telecom market in the country, Ben Cardwell, vice-president, Sales and Marketing, Asia Pacific, Andrew, in an interaction with Bhaskar Hazarika from CyberMedia News, termed India as one of the high-growth markets across the globe.
How do you foresee the Indian telecom market in terms of your business in the coming years?
India is one of the potential markets for us with all-round investment pouring into the telecom sector. There is a huge potential for growth in this sector and we are witnessing it on year on year. We are also targeting the small service providers, which do not have a pan-India presence.
The mobile operators are ballistic on launching the 3G platform in India, we are optimistic about the growth.
What is your business strategy in terms of delivering the products to your customers? Who all are your potential customers in India?
We follow a simple business theory. We deal with the telecom operators for supply and installation of the products or through network providers. We have been constantly supporting majority of the mobile operators directly. We also deal with Ericsson and Motorola for offering our product range, which they offer as a package to the mobile operators.
We have been installing a number of cell sites for majority of service providers across the country.
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What are your targets for the India market in 2007? Do you think your business will be affected with mobile operators keen on sharing infrastructure?
During the year 2006, we have installed around 48,000 cell sites and this growth has been phenomenal. With the government initiating to connect the rural population, cellular operators are rushing to rural areas to offer their services, which will boost our business here. This year we are targeting to set up more than 80,000 cell sites in India, which is a big number.
On the shared infrastructure initiative by the operators, to some extent will have an affect on our business, but that will not be huge. Most of the countries worldwide are following the policy of share infrastructure, which reduces the cost of expansion for each operator.
What is the contribution from the India market to your global revenues?
India contributes a major share to the global revenues. In 2006 our revenues stood at $2.15 million and the Asia-Pacific contributes around 15 per cent to it. We have got an impressive growth in India, which is going to increase Quarter on Quarter.
Any plans to increase the headcount in India?
We have two sales offices in India: Mumbai and Delhi, and a production facility in Goa. We have employed around 250 people in Goa center and are planning to increase the numbers to 400 by this year-end.
Which are the emerging markets you are targeting in the Asia-Pacific region?
Indonesia is another emerging market for us. The challenge there is connecting the island and rural areas.
We are witnessing a lot of competition in the high growth category in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. These are one of the growing markets in the Asia-Pacific region. However, India stands as the hub for SAARC region.
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