U.S.Robotics, manufacturer of Internet connectivity solutions for small to medium businesses and home users, stated that its Middle East operations were the best performing operations within the U.S.Robotics EMEA group for the first half of year 2003.
Yusuf Syed, regional sales manager, U.S.Robotics, said: “We have exceeded our original business plan expectations and blew away the revised target we set given the environment in the Middle East. Of particular interest is the second quarter of 2003 where we grew by 54 percent, this being also a 75 percent growth over the same period last year.”
Syed explained that while Internet connectivity products supporting dial-up Internet services are still leading the market, broadband and wireless connectivity products are showing growing demand in the region. U.S.Robotics’ product line supporting broadband access showed a noticeable increase in the first quarter of this year compared to last year.
“Sales of U.S.Robotics DSL product lines constituted 15 percent of the company achievement in the home and SMB segments in the EMEA region,” Syed said. “Although this is a very good result for us in this market, we anticipate that further growth of this segment will highly depend on further drops in broadband connectivity prices coupled with content rich applications that drive the demand for high speed Internet access. In the Middle East only, the growth of our wireless product line more than doubled in the second quarter of this year.
Even with all the new products introduced in the past year, U.S.Robotics’ analogue modems product line continued to be important and to show highest performance in the region, constituting over 90 percent of U.S.Robotics sales to the home users segment.
“Our dial-up product line shows strong sales growth thanks to the strong brand awareness and loyalty among home and SMB users,” said Syed. “Our competitive pricing, supported a strong distribution channel that has made U.S.Robotics analogue modems the de-facto brand in this segment of the market.”
U.S.Robotics has now launched its 802.11g Wireless Turbo range powered by the company’s exclusive “Accelerator Technology,” which is set to increase performance levels to up to 100 mpbs. These high performance wireless and broadband-supporting technology products, will be available in the Middle East market in mid-August.
Arab News Compunet 12 August 2003