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October 10, 2006
Battery maker hopes to sell backup system to telcos
(Business Times (Malaysia) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) BATTERY manufacturer ETI Tech Corp Bhd is in talks with several telecommunication companies (telcos) to sell backup power systems to them.
Telcos need a reliable backup power system for their transmission towers or base stations because it would ensure uninterrupted coverage for their customers.
Currently, telcos use either diesel-powered generators or batteries as back-up power systems.
For a start, ETI Tech will target the industry, particularly the existing 15,000 base stations in the country that have a combined value of RM1.2 billion to RM1.5 billion, said chairman Datuk Ch'ng Kong San.
"Our marketing approach will be towards the existing base stations as well as new stations. "We target 4,000-5,000 stations per year. We have started talking to a few telcos but it is too early to reveal more details," he told reporters after a partnership signing with German-based P21 GmbH in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
Under the agreement, ETI Tech and P21, a spin-off firm from telco giant Vodafone, will collaborate to develop backup power systems that use P21's fuel-cell technology.
ETI Tech will assemble the new product in its plant in Kulim Hi-Tech Park, Kedah.
Fuel cell is powered through hydrogen and oxygen gases. It is environmentally-friendly and saves cost and space, said P21's chief executive officer Dieter Braechtken.
ETI Tech is P21's first partner in Asia. The German firm has plans to set up a plant here. Malaysia will be its springboard to the Middle East, South-East Asia and Africa, he added.
Almost 80 per cent of ETI Tech's sales come from overseas, from countries like Taiwan, Australia, Singapore and Japan. It plans to go to Europe, the Middle East, Africa, China and the US next, said executive director Mansor Padzin.
For the year ended August 2006, the firm made a net profit of RM5.9 million on RM32.35 million revenue.
Copyright 2006 The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad. Source: Financial Times Information Limited - Asia Intelligence Wire
(source: http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2006/10/10/1972626.htm)
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