ROHDE & SCHWARZ
We consider the Middle East and Africa as one of the most dynamic regions in the world offering a large business potential to R&S. There is a fast growing mobile industry and we see large investments in infrastructure projects, driven by a stable income from natural resources. By and large, demand has remained strong throughout the financial crisis. Traditionally, we have strong partnerships in the region going back more than 25 years. They form the basis for long lasting and trustful relations with our customers and partners in the area. R&S is present in more than 70 countries worldwide, most of which are served by local R&S subsidiaries. It is part of our core strategy to build long-term relationships with our customers around the world and to make a strong commitment to the markets we operate in. Therefore it is a quite natural step for the company to increase its commitment to this region by reinforcing the local presence with the new office in Dubai.
Christian Leicher, president and COO, Rohde & Schwarz.
048 MARCH 2010
EMBRACING THE MARKET
CHRISTIAN LEICHER, PRESIDENT AND COO, ROHDE & SCHWARZ
The company already had 60 employees in the UAE at its service subsidiary and has had a direct local presence for the past 15 years. “In the years since we started we have grown our presence dramatically and we now operate from South Africa to Egypt, from the UAE to Jordan,” says Eshwarahally. If we have people in the headquarters they need to be able to travel throughout the MEA region so we need to have the infrastructure here in terms of telecoms, transport, accommodation and other facilities. You also need to have the qualified manpower, it is not easy to find this everywhere in the region and these reasons drove us to choose Dubai.” The new HQ houses 20 staff at the moment in addition to the service staff with Eshwarahally revealing that this number could rise as high as 60 during the next two years. “These hires will be across all departments. We are also in the process of establishing an office in Saudi Arabia, which has been one of our key markets. The UAE remains our biggest regional market. Saudi Arabia is one of the most stable for the broadcast and communication sector. One of the biggest success stories in the region has been our broadcasting business – we have won more or less all the turnkey projects in our field in Bahrain, UAE and Qatar during the past 12 months.” Despite the downturn – which has caused a slight reduction in revenues for R&S – the company has performed well with Eshwarahally attributing some of this success to the company’s diverse portfolio and long history in the industry. “The advantage for us has been that we have not relied on one particular area. We want to be the leader in every technology area that we operate in and the business is supported on four pillars; test and measurement, monitoring, broadcast and
communications and this gives us a very stable base to overcome the current economic challenges,” explains Eshwarahally. “As a family-run business we have no debts with any bank. The company runs on its own operating income. Much of this is invested in research and development activities. This means that the company is essentially funding its own growth and development using its own capital. This is a healthy position to be in and has helped during the past 18 months. Trust has become a big issue in the industry. If clients are going to pay a big down payment they want to know where that money is going to go as the company may go bust tomorrow,” he claims. Eshwarahally has also seen a change in customers purchasing priorities in recent years as the downturn forces customers to scrutinise their outgoings more carefully before making major investments in new infrastructure. “Rohde & Schwarz products are known as being high-end. Customers know that they are going to get high quality. The criteria that is used in Europe when selecting technology has involved looking at the life cycle cost of a product rather than just the initial price, and this is a key point. In the Middle East, we are now seeing all the customers revert to this way of thinking. They are looking carefully not just at the expense of procuring new infrastructure, but at the operating, maintenance and servicing costs over the lifetime of the product.” In some instances this has led the company to review some of its products and the way they are marketed, shifting more emphasis on to the longterm benefits. “With our high power transmitters, we have had to look very hard at the power consumption. I believe that we now have the most efficient in the industry. When an operator is launching a network www.digitalproductionme.com