GITEX 2012 INTERVIEWS ITU TELECOM World 2012 - Teletimes

expertise in the market. So wehave our first level supportsfor technical, supply chain andmarketing and communication.And I think this is what makesus so different from thecompetition. We are not justhere selling boxes.Another thing is local presence.In dubai we have our regionalhub but also believe in ‘in thecountry for the country’. Forexample we have local presencein Saudi, Oman, Qatar, Jordanand Egypt. So it’s really a lot ofopportunities in all these regionsthat we are present in.TT - Do you find the Middle Eastmarket different from the othermarkets that you are operatingin?MR - I think when you startspeaking about telecomoperators, all countries presenta challenge. Inside each countrywe have different challengesas well. If you take dubai andAbu Dhabi for example, inAbu Dhabi there are a lot of“We are renowned for Swiss quality. This company hasbeen in the market for 48 years. We have really produceda number of innovative products over the last 40 yearsand I think that the top priority though all this has beenreliability and high quality.”towers and skyscrapers whiledubai is very flat. So whenyou start deploying your fibersolution, you don’t have thesame challenges. As I said wedo not sell a box so what weare good at is being able togive some expertise to telecomoperators. They then employ theinternational experience that weprovide form european nationsfor instance and they can thendeploy products which exactlyfit their requrements.TT - How do you see the futuregrowth for the cabling industryin the Middle East? And howdo you see your own growthas I believe that there is a lot ofcompetition in the market.MR - The thing is that peopleare not just interested in theprice. People are interested inquality. This is something thatwe are leaders for in the market.As I told you with cabling youare talking about an investmentfor the next 20 to 25 years. Sowhen you are speaking aboutsuch an investment, you arevery concerned about quality.We are bringing Flexibility,Speed Quality and relieablity.At the same time for the past2 years, the Middle East hasgone through the Arab Spring.And this created for us a lot ofopportunities when it comes toJean-Pierri Labry, EVP MEA - R&M and Richard Eichhorn, CSO - R&M also participated in the interviewinvestment. A lot of countriesstarted investing in buildinginfrastructure not just intelecom but also in healthcare,in education. Governments bringmore services and since wefocus on so many verticals thisrepresents a huge opportunityfor us.TT - Reliability- how does yourproduct compare to the othersin that regard?MR - We are renowned for Swissquality. This company has beenin the market for 48 years. Wehave really produced a numberof innovative products over thelast 40 years and I think that thetop priority though all this hasbeen reliability and high quality.This is really the Swiss standardand this is across all our markets.For example the patch cordassembly in dubai is fullycomplaint with our internationalstandards.I think that’s why our customersvalue us as this is a long terminvestment. And here we are intop of the industry.TT - How has your experiencehere at Gitex been? What areyou hoping to achieve?MR - It’s not the first time thatwe have been here. It’s over10 years that we are presentat GITEX. And I think this hasalways been a great opportunityfor us to share our expertisehere and to show also thenew innovations. And this issomething that we are strongat- INNOVATION. The future isthere but it requires innovativeproducts. And we are spending8 to 10% in R&D.November 2012www.teletimesinternational.com29