Quintel exits China, chooses to expand PH contract

US-BASED Quintel, a leading antenna solutions provider, is pulling out of mainland China to refocus on the Philippines’ Cirtek Advanced Technology and Solutions Inc. (CATS) as its dominant manufacturing supplier.

This was seen to double Quintel’s contract with CATS to around $60 million by next year from this year’s level in turn creating more domestic jobs, top officials of CATS’ parent firm Cirtek Holdings Philippines Corp. said in an interview.

“The CEO (chief executive officer) of Quintel went here … It was relayed to us that they were doubling their order of contract by next year because they are shutting down their operations in China and moving it to Cirtek by August,” Cirtek president Roberto Juanchito Dispo said in an interview last week.

Quintel decided to move out of China due to concerns on intellectual property and quality, Dispo said. He said this would benefit the Philippines, which is Quintel’s only other supplier in Asia.

“Next year, Quintel’s total order would be around 40,000 antennas.  Quintel assured us that of the 40,000, they would order 70 percent or more from us. That’s the one translating to around $60 million (business),” Dispo said.

Cirtek completed the construction of a third building on its Laguna facility in December last year. The new facility provides additional production capacity to meet increased orders from existing key customers and to support new contracts.

“They are putting all their eggs [in our basket]. That’s high trust of confidence in our capacity and technology.  This is a very good contract. It would bring a lot of profitability to the company,” Dispo said.

Antonio Buyawe, Cirtek chief finance officer, said the firm would use the new building for the antenna business for Quintel.  A dedicated team of 250 people had been hired just for this, he said.

“That building, more or less, would address our requirements for Quintel and at the same time for additional volumes for our semiconductor business. But perhaps after this year, we may need to expand again,” Buyawe said.

“We need another 170 [people to work on the Quintel business] in two months,” Dispo said.

Cirtek’s advanced technology business through CATS is also seen to grow bigger next year, more than the usual output of its traditional semiconductor business.

Quintel designs, develops and delivers advanced antenna solutions that help mobile operators increase efficiency, enhance quality of service, slash costs and accelerate returns.

Overall, Cirtek expected growth from existing businesses this year to grow by 35 percent. Net profit growth was also seen tracking the 8 to 10 percent top line growth, Buyawe said.

Last year, Cirtek grew its core profit by 35 percent to $5.1 million, driven by the growth in revenues from the semiconductor and broadband businesses. Consolidated revenue last year amounted to $59.6 million, an increase of 15 percent from the previous year.