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Friday, October 26, 2012

Microqual -pioneer in provisioning passive microwave components, service and solutions to Mobile Telecom Operators and Telecom Equipment Manufacturers in India.


Deloitte list of fast 50 India often contain a sprincle of hardware firms and Microqual is on the list in 2011, 2009, 2008, 2006 and 2005.
Microqual was founded by a young entrepreneur Mahesh Choudary in 1999 starting with Splitter used to connect  customers using WLL (Wireless in Local Loop) technology. Microqual today is a Rs 235 crore company provides complete and integrated lifecycle solutions for passive infrastructure to the telecom companies' right from site selection, civil and electrical construction to installation and maintenance. 
Under the RF feeder cable manufacturing business, Microqual has a manufacturing unit in Aurangabad, Maharashtra where copper-core and aluminium-core cables are sheathed for indoor and outdoor application. A second RF equipment facility is operational in Rudrapur (2 units) where active and passive RF components like repeaters, connectors, jumpers, antenna, splitters, couplers, combiners etc are manufactured. The company has an R&D laboratory in Bangalore, where product development and research work is done. Apart from being a manufacturer and material supplier, Microqual is also a Turnkey Service Provider (TSP) to telecom operators and tower companies. Microqual erects telecom towers (Ground Based Towers and Roof Top Towers) on small parcels of land (less than 0.25acre) procured and selected by the customer (telecom service provider). Microqual also undertakes the operations and maintenance contract for telecom operators. Microqual was one of the  first companies to win a contract for active maintenance from Huawei. Microqual is also engaged in the business of In-Building telecom Services (IBS) where it is involved in activities like RF planning and designing inside buildings (such as institutional areas, corporate campuses, shopping malls, hotels etc), leasing space from the builder/owner of the building, deploying RF infrastructure and then leasing out this RF network to telecom service providers to cater to the tenants /occupants of the building.
How did a hardware product company survive in India? The firm did not plan to become world's largest manufacturer of any electronic component and did not set up R&D center to develop next new material for components. Instead, the firm's business priorities have been driven primarily by its customer's needs and it uses technology innovatively to enhance value for them by offering products, services and innovative solutions resulting in reduction of Capex, Opex and Space (ROCS), thereby increasing their overall profitability and time to market. 
Mahesh  formula for scaling an IP driven business in India and product development provides great insights to factors that led to the success of Microqual."I think most people are good product developers, but something that we learnt very early on is that people lack in the final phase of customization. We realized that if we can do that part well, then we are a very good value proposition. I think this is one of the most important aspects of scaling. 


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