By ADAM GIFFORD
Wellington antenna manufacturer Deltec Telesystems International has sold its assets and intellectual property to one of its main competitors, Chicago-based Andrew Corporation.
The deal, which is still to be confirmed by the Andrew board, means the loss of 45 jobs at Deltec's Tawa manufacturing plant once production lines
are established at Andrew facilities overseas.
But Deltec chief executive Jim Donovan said a similar number of people at the company's product development facility in Porirua would stay on.
Other Wellington manufacturers and overseas suppliers were inquiring about hiring the manufacturing staff.
Deltec was established in 1977 by former Post Office radio technicians Peter Graham and Roger Butland, who along with Mr Donovan held all the shares.
Turnover last year was $34 million, with revenue trebling over the past three years.
Its main product, the Teletilt! line of antennae for cellphone base stations, can be remotely reconfigured to handle changing network demand.
Competing antennae, including those from Andrew, must be physically replaced if the network operator wants to change the function of the cell site.
"We have a technology which is poised to support the 3G mobile phone marketplace worldwide, and we needed to get additional resources to take it to the world," Mr Donovan said.
"We need to set up manufacturing on four continents and gear up for a huge increase in capability, so the time is right to work with a global partner."
He said raising capital for expansion "was not possible in the current environment, given that the world telecoms industry is in freefall."
Deltec makes several thousand antennae a month, each selling for about $US2000 ($4880).
"The reality with manufacturing here is these products are bulky and attract high freight and duty," said Mr Donovan.
"China and Brazil, which are two of the biggest markets, have high duty on them."
Andrew, a $US1 billion corporation, already manufactures in those countries.
Jim Giacobazzi, Andrew's vice-president for antenna products, said the company planned to develop the Wellington facility into a worldwide centre of excellence in advanced antenna systems.
