Andrew Eyes 3G Opportunities in LatAm

US communications equipment manufacturer and supplier Andrew Corp sees growth opportunities in the medium term in Latin America in 3G mobile technology, Andrew's Americas sales vice president James McIlvain told BNamericas.

"We see opportunities in 3G, not immediately but it's up there on the horizon," McIlvain said on the sidelines of the Expocom conference in Mexico City.

3G technology has been deployed mainly through CDMA technology in Latin America to date though it is still not widespread.

Operators using CDMA 3G technology include Smartcom in Chile, Telefónica Móviles in 10 countries, Alegro PCS in Ecuador, Telgua in Guatemala, Telcel in Mexico, Movilnet in Venezuela, Vivo in Brazil and Ola in Colombia.

At the end of September there were 15 million CDMA2000 users in Latin America

and the Caribbean, according to the CDMA Development Group.

Apart from 3G, Andrew plans to launch new products in the region such as braided cable and power amplifiers.

"Latin America is promising and we are bringing new products to market as well such as power amplifiers which we haven't done traditionally and that will give us a boost," McIlvain said.

Latin America represents some 5-7% of Andrew's global sales, which were US$1.96bn in 2005, and McIlvain does not see that percentage increasing significantly given the normal level of demand from the region.

"I think it is representative for the region. It's going to hold its own, but we do expect some growth out of it," McIlvain said.

Andrew has a manufacturing plant in Brazil and an office in Mexico City and distributes to the region through a combination of distributors and direct sales.

Though McIlvain says it is hard to identify peculiarities of the Latin American market that make it unique, he compares it to other emerging markets in the Asia-Pacific region such as Indonesia where there has been a strong uptake in wireless communications and often a leapfrog over the wireline communications stage.

"I think you have to have flexibility in each country. We have a blue print of options in each country. But we are very flexible in adapting... we take the best of our background and apply it to whatever that country needs," McIlvain said.

Some 95% of Andrew's business comes from designing, manufacturing and supplying wireless communications network equipment to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) such as Siemens, Ericsson, Lucent and Motorola.

It offers a range of equipment from antennas, coaxial cables, tower mount amplifiers and microwave backbone as well as software tools that help carriers test and manage their networks. The company also provides satellite communications equipment for operators of residential and private networks.

BNamericas.com"

Posted to the site on 18th February 2006