STM Wireless Wins $60-Million Deal in India : Communications: Irvine company will provide equipment for use in cellular and other telephone services.
Capitalizing on the changing telecommunications landscape in India, STM Wireless Inc. said it has signed a $60-million sales agreement--the biggest in the company’s history--to supply communications equipment to its recently formed joint venture there.
The Irvine company, which manufactures satellite and other wireless communications products, will supply equipment to HFCL Satellite Communications Ltd., a company that recently acquired licenses to provide cellular and other telephone services in India’s capital city, New Delhi, and other regions.
HFCL is a joint venture formed in September by STM Wireless and Himachal Futuristic Communications Ltd., based in New Delhi.
“India is rolling out an aggressive program of adding infrastructure for telecommunications,” said Michael Lindsay, chief operating officer of STM Wireless.
The sales agreement, he said, “is very significant from a financial standpoint, and positions us very well for the future.”
Under the agreement, STM will ship $7 million worth of equipment in 1996, and the remaining $53 million in 1997 and 1998, officials said.
The company had sales of $27.1 million, and a profit of $2.27 million, for the first three quarters of 1995.
The sales agreement tops other sizable orders the company received earlier this year, including twin contracts from the U.S. Navy worth a combined $57.2 million for engineering technical services.
More than 80% of STM’s revenue comes from international markets, said Lindsay, who pointed out that the company also sells telecommunications equipment in Brazil, Argentina and Malaysia.
As part of a privatization plan, the Indian government in recent months has sold 21 licenses to provide telephone services in various parts of the country, Lindsay said.
He added that HFCL was a successful bidder in recent licensing auctions, winning one license to provide cellular service, and three others to provide basic telephone service in three “circles”--regions that correspond to Indian states.
STM, founded in 1982, manufactures modems, transceivers and other communications equipment.
