Headline: INTERVIEW-Glenayre (NASDAQ:GEMS) sees 2-way paging
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"There is a massive installed (capacity) of one-way pagers
in the world so they are not going to disappear. But we think
that the growth of one-way pagers will be replaced by the growth
of two-way pagers," he said in an interview.
U.S.-based Glenayre makes pagers and other
telecommunications equipment, including the network systems.
The company's two-way pagers can send and collect messages
from the Internet, allowing users to transmit and pick up
electronic mail as if they were at home or in an office.
Much of the company's US$390 million turnover in 1996 came
from sales of the electronic infrastructure which support pagers
and from the manufacture of equipment that allows advanced
functions for other communications systems.
But last year it paid just under US$100 million for Wireless
Access Inc, a company which had developed two-way pagers.
Glenayre is now promoting this technology with a number of
other equipment companies including Motorola (NYSE:MOT), Canada's
Nortel (TSE:NTL) and Finland's Nokia (HELS:NOKS.A).
By Chris Johnson
SINGAPORE, Jan 22 (Reuters) - U.S. telecoms equipment-maker
Glenayre Technologies Inc predicted on Thursday that two-way
pagers would soon replace one-way systems as the commonest
electronic communication devices.
Glenayre president and chief executive officer Gary Smith
told Reuters he expected sales of two-way pagers -- which allow
users to send as well as receive messages -- would overtake
one-way pagers by around 2000.
"We are making a big investment in two-way paging. We think,
and many paging operators think, it is the next step to take in
the evolution of paging," he said.
Smith, in Singapore to open the company's new Asia-South
headquarters, said two-way pagers and the technology for other
enhanced communications services would be the basis for the
company's future growth.
He declined to give specific forecasts but suggested the
company would report 1997 global sales of over US$440 million.
He earlier told a news conference Glenayre's annual turnover
had risen to more than $390 million in 1996, from $321 million
in 1995 and $172 million in 1994. He said analysts had estimated
the company had sales of over $440 million last year.
"Greater than $440 million we think is a reasonable
estimate," he told reporters. "We believe we can see significant
growth in the business going forward."
Glenayre is expected to publish its fourth quarter and
full-year 1997 results in the next few weeks.
Smith said two-way paging accounted for less than 10 percent
of global sales last year but this proportion should grow.
"In 1997, we had sales in the tens of millions of dollars
for its infrastructure...So at the moment it is a small piece.
But if you go two or three years out it could be a significant
piece of Glenayre," he said.
He said he hoped for annual growth of at least 20 percent.
"In this market, if the formula and the stars line up right,
definitely you can have strong growth in the teens or 20s
(percent a year). It's not an unreasonable expectation."
He said the company had recorded 40 percent sales growth in
Asia for 1997 over 1996 but said he would not forecast a similar
rate of growth for the future.
Russ Allen, executive vice president for global business
development and acting general manager for China, said
Glenayre's sales to China, Hong Kong and Taiwan in 1997 were
"very close to $100 million," or almost a quarter of sales.
"It has been growing at anywhere from 20 to 25 percent (a
year)," he said.
-- Singapore Newsroom (65) 870-3080; Fax (65) 776-8112
-- Email: singapore.newsroom@reuters.com
Copyright 1998, Reuters News Service
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