UAE telecom industry in pace with rapid changes

The Munich-based company — which mainly manufactures corded, cordless and Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, phones — views the Dubai and the UAE as a very important market, chief executive officer for Middle East, Africa and India Shahzad Ahmed told Khaleej Times in an interview.

"The telecom industry in the region is witnessing rapid changes [especially] with the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority [TRA] liberalising VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) innovation [in the UAE] and adding new fixed-line licences," he said.

Gigaset has been very focused in its business plan, according to Ahmed, and this has resulted in over 30 per cent growth in 2010 amid the financial crunch and unrest in the region. The same figure is as well the company’s target this year. Gigaset has been in the region for over six years and has a market share of over 30 per cent in key countries like Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait and Egypt.

"We see numerous opportunities and a shift from the West to these regions as emerging markets both regionally and globally, so we are confident that we [can] continue our growth path for the foreseeable future in the cordless and corded [phone] categories," Ahmed said. Gigaset has a portfolio of specific solutions to match user requirements; in the fourth quarter of 2010, it launched the SL 400A, which is the smallest Gigaset unit in the world. Ahmed termed the phone as its "star" product, as it "combines everything a user needs to make using a telephone convenient."

The DL 500A

It as well has the DL 500A, a phone that boasts of technical precision and high-quality materials. Up to six Digital Enhanced Cordless Communications, or DECT, handsets can be integrated into this, and calls over a mobile network can be conducted using Gigaset’s very own link2mobile function.

Ahmed added that Gigaset is as well expanding its IP PBX (Private -Automatic- Branch Exchange) portfolio, as then as the Gigaset Pro, entering a new segment in the fixed-line category, as so then as other related sectors in the nearly future.

"The cordless devices sector is witnessing significant growth in the Middle East with more that 50 per cent of fixed-line clients in the region and Europe changing their phones to advanced ones," Ahmed said.

The right product

"I believe if you have the right product, you can create the required demand to do great business in a growing market like the UAE," he said.