A California manufacturer is producing a paging repeater that it believes is unique and will appeal to carriers battling high installation costs.
The P450 by AML Communications Inc. has a split chassis design. Most repeaters are housed in a single unit that combines the receiver and transmitter. AML has separated those modules to eliminate the need for extensive coaxial cable.
The AML receiver can be placed on the roof near the antenna. Twisted pair conductor wires are run through the building to the AML transmitter, which may be placed in the basement.
“You get around the expense of coax and it cuts [an operator’s] installation costs,” said Jacob Inbar, AML chairman and chief executive officer. The company has a patent for the product’s design.
Coaxial cable must run between the roof antenna and the receiver. Traditionally, a single-unit repeater has been placed inside the building. In the past, paging carriers have run coaxial cable through concrete parking garages and vast convention centers to hook the roof antenna to the repeater box.
The use of extensive coaxial cable meant installation could end up costing more than the repeater equipment, AML said. The two-part chassis of the P450 solves that problem, Inbar maintains. The product is now being shipped. MobileMedia Corp. is expected to test it.
Camarillo, Calif.-based AML designs and builds high-power multicarrier amplifiers and reception enhancers as well as repeaters. It aspires to sell to system carriers, rather than original equipment manufacturers.
AML has been in business since 1986, but became a public company in December. Net proceeds from the initial public offering were about $7.7 million, a good portion of which is being used to expand the company’s manufacturing capability.
AML recently moved from a 7,500 square-foot manufacturing facility to a 25,000 square-foot plant, with the stated goal of accommodating future growth.
AML has introduced a repeater for personal communications services networks that comes in a channelized version for Global System for Mobile communications applications, and a broadband version compatible with other PCS technology standards. Pacific Bell Mobile Services is trialing AML’s PCS repeaters in California.
The company reported a 224 percent rise in revenues for first fiscal quarter 1997, which ended June 30. The increase reportedly was due to cellular and PCS repeater sales. Net income increased from 4 cents per share to 10 cents per share, which Wedbush Morgan Securities said was ahead of street expectations. Los Angeles-based Wedbush has increased revenue and earnings per share estimates for the company.
Costs grew during the first quarter as well, up 365 percent from the same period last year. AML said personnel and advertising cost increased, as well as commissions and costs associated with being publicly traded. Research and development costs also rose.
AML’s operating profit margin was 25.9 percent during the first quarter ended June 30, down from the 27.3 percent reported for fiscal 1996, Wedbush said.
“Our model incorporates modest declines in gross profit and operating profit margins, as volume purchases by major customers could lead to discounts,” Wedbush said. AML declared a three-for-two stock split in May to increase the company’s trading activity and liquidity.
