PROSE, the spinoff of Rosenberger Technologies' antenna and wireless product portfolio, was announced in early 2022. We connected with Vick Mamlouk, the Senior Advisor at Rosenberger Technologies, to shed light on the essence of this new brand, their current business environment, and the growth outlook within the wireless industry.
As one of the latest initiatives in developing Rosenberger Technologies’ international business for wireless products, can you explain the relevance and purpose behind the new brand identity PROSE?
PROSE means everyday language, and we noticed in the world today that communication is a comparable element to electricity and water. With life meant to be connected and made up of the small yet unforgettable moments, we felt it was important to establish ourselves that we're in the industry to connect people.
Rosenberger Technologies, from its origins, focused on connectivity solutions; making it one of the leaders in the industry. The wireless product portfolio was integrated into the mix in 2008 under the leadership of the same team that leads PROSE today. The focus is on wireless product portfolios that provide base station antennas and indoor wireless communications. We took the wireless communication vision and branded it as PROSE, allowing the company to focus on the mission to communicate in day-to-day life.
We have been in the telecommunications industry for a long time, and our product offerings have over 100 service providers worldwide. We have a clear understanding of the future market and how to adapt to change. Because of our market adaptability, we have been able to focus on communicating with people, networks, and data—all while providing great products and solutions.
With PROSE, we provide wireless solutions for service providers, enterprises, and private wireless networks. We want to be closer to our customers and help them make decisions quicker than ever. Customers now need unique solutions, and we can provide offerings based on their demands and needs.
In wireless communications infrastructure, the market is changing and the pie is getting bigger. Now you are not only serving service providers for their wireless needs, but you are also serving the enterprises that want their private networks. Our future is to help support the industry with Open RAN and active wireless DAS for indoor and outdoor solutions.
What is the current market position and business environment for PROSE?
We have four R&D centers in North America, China, India, and Australia, as we are focusing more on different future product demands for customers. We also have three manufacturing locations and more than 25 sales and project offices serving around the globe.
We focused a lot on Asia and expanded to the Middle East and India. Now with the expansion and the ability to be on our own, the market will allow us to open in Europe, Africa, as well as North, South, and Latin America. I am personally involved in Africa, which I see as the last frontier, and where we recently demonstrated an expansion in our customer base.
How does the company support its customers? What are the main needs that should be met?
Different customers need different things. In Africa, we are still talking about 3G going to LTE, but in countries like Saudi Arabia and the UAE, we are already talking about 5G and 6G. In Europe, it’s all about private networks. Manufacturers and enterprises are making their wireless networks.
I see that the future in the wireless industry would be connecting Open RAN to indoor solutions. You will have a brand new network that is not only controlled by the vendor or the service provider. Each enterprise can have its segment of frequencies and make its private network. And they want companies like PROSE to be able to serve these needs and say, “Okay, I can do LTE, I can do 5G, and our systems are ready for 6G.”
Where would there be a huge demand increase and how would PROSE respond to this?
It depends on the market. When it comes to wireless networks, there are two things: capacity and coverage. The capacity is when you add sources like data centers and actual radios. While coverage is for indoor solutions and being able to cover public venues.
For instance, Asia has been more advanced in wireless communications because they have deployed 5G. Since there is a large population, capacity is required. While in Africa, there is less of a population but much larger areas—which require coverage. In Europe, dense areas require both better coverage and capacity.
In the future, I see heavy industrial companies as the most advanced in providing private networks. Whether located in Europe, China, or North America, you will hear companies have around 300,000 employees, on top of numerous data centers and factories equipped with robots. Those would require more private networks and wireless solutions.
Moreover, for indoor solutions, I see buildings set up with dedicated infrastructure to connect tenants and users. For outdoor solutions, they will prepare areas where they can put closets for telecommunication as data centers are coming to the edge.
All of this is happening to provide the PROSE way — everyday communication and easy services and installation for complete coverage.
What is the key to PROSE’s success in the future?
First of all, I hope that COVID and supply chain issues can come to an end. Thus, the focus can go to bringing the investment back from the service provider and enterprise. What we have seen, in the last two years of the pandemic, is that we make sure communication is enabled everywhere.
Everybody is working from different locations, but they are communicating more and more, depending on the infrastructure. I see there is a major growth in the infrastructure, growing considerably between 10-15% a year, based on ABI and other worldwide market studies.
Service providers and enterprises are all part of the growth in the future. 5G will provide network slicing segments where each one will have its frequency spectrum. We hope that PROSE will be very successful by not only capturing customers and being able to meet their demand but also getting into more international markets. Each market has its particularities and challenges to keep things balanced and PROSE is here to provide the right wireless solution to serve its customers.