Although Motorola Inc. has been actively refining its worldwide focus to be solely an equipment manufacturer, the Schaumburg, Ill.-based company holds ownership interests in cellular operating companies in three blooming Asian markets-Pakistan, Thailand and Hong Kong.
“Our objective in opportunities worldwide is to be an equipment supplier,” said Mary Anne McAndrew, a spokeswoman for Motorola’s Cellular Infrastructure Group. “Different criteria comes into play about why (ownership) is appropriate in some cases, and it depends on what makes business sense. We like the equity position and to be active in the technology and equipment, but our objective is to be an equipment supplier,” McAndrew said.
Motorola reported last year that transactions in Asia collectively accounted for about 26 percent of the company’s market sales. Comparatively, the European region accounted for 21 percent and U.S. sales were 44 percent.
“We expect the Asian economy to develop at a rapid rate, maybe due to improved telecommunications,” said Pertti Johansson, vice president and general manager of Motorola’s International Cellular Infrastructure Division. For example, Motorola sees promise in India’s nascent wireless industry. Hard-working nations like India have a large middle class with plenty of disposable income, and have demonstrated a pent-up demand for cellular, Johansson said.
In Pakistan, Motorola is a minority partner in one of the country’s three licensed operators, Pakistan Mobile Communications Ltd., a 900 MHz cellular provider also called Mobilink. The system uses Global System for Mobile communications technology.
Motorola holds minority ownership in Total Access Communications Systems in Thailand, which went online with AMPS in 1991, and also runs narrowband AMPS and DCS 1800. Motorola also won a contract to supply the new GSM operator, Advanced Information Services. Motorola supplies AMPS equipment to the national operator, Communications Authority of Thailand, which started the system about 1987.
Hong Kong has four operators, with Motorola now a minority owner in Hutchison Telephone. Hutchinson operates an 800 MHz AMPS system, a 900 MHz TACS network and is constructing a GSM network.
In the rest of Asia, Motorola is an equipment provider. In February, the company completed the interconnection of its cellular phone systems in 18 Chinese provinces and the cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin. It created the largest contiguous TACS analog cellular network in the world, Motorola said.
In Japan, Motorola also has been active, particularly through its custom creation of the Japanese TACS system used by cellular operator DDI Corp.
Cellular in Japan can’t run at pure 800 MHz AMPS or pure 900 MHz TACS because the country’s 800 and 900 MHz band isn’t contiguous enough, Johansson said.
“All over the world, 800 MHz is the same, except Japan. There, 800 MHz spectrum is different. That’s why JTACS is used instead of TACS. Most other Asian nations have AMPS or CDMA at 800 MHz,” he said.
