Ramboll Acquires Major Indian Engineering Firm Specialised in Telecommunication
08 April 2008 17:34
The Ramboll Group acquires the firm IMIsoft, thereby taking a big leap into the Indian mobile market. This acquisition makes Ramboll Telecom the world's largest group in the design of telecommunication constructions.
It's all go for the Ramboll Group these days: just a few weeks after announcing its record-breaking results for 2007, Northern Europe's leading consultancy group has taken a significant leap forward in India. The Group is acquiring the Indian engineering firm of IMIsoft which specialises in the design of mobile towers, software development and mobile networks surveillance.
IMIsoft is known as a well-established and well-reputed firm. Established in 1988, and with a workforce in excess of 650 employees, the firm enjoys a unique position on the Indian telecom market.
Strong strategic position
The acquisition of IMIsoft gives Ramboll Telecom a strong strategic position on the booming Indian mobile market. Besides headquarters in Hyderabad, IMIsoft has offices distributed across some 20 Indian cities. Equally, the firm is already a highly recognised business partner for clients also served by Ramboll Telecom.
"The challenge on the Indian market is timing, size and extensive geographical coverage. The major mobile operators prefer to work with the big players who can provide them with nationwide service in India. The ongoing consolidation among operators in joint infrastructure companies has intensified this. We have been established in India in telecommunications for just over two years, and have managed to build up a good business, but the increasing consolidation has meant that our organic growth has been unable to keep pace. With the acquisition of IMIsoft, we are now gaining a very central position on the market, with extensive expertise, volume and geographical coverage," says Poul Albeck, Managing Director, Ramboll Telecom.
India is the fastest-growing telecom market in the world – a position it has taken over from China. India currently has approx. 250 million mobile subscribers, and that figure is projected to double by 2010. An increase of 250 million mobile subscribers in just three years requires massive investment and huge infrastructure projects in order to ensure adequate capacity and coverage. In the coming years, approximately 60,000 mobile towers will be erected per annum – representing a huge investment which Ramboll Telecom is expecting to gain a share of.
World leader
In the American magazine Engineering News Record (ENR), Ramboll Telecom is no. 2 on the list of international design firms in telecommunications, ranked by sales. With the acquisition of IMIsoft, Ramboll Telecom will easily move up to no. 1 on this list. This position reflects strong growth in both sales and employee numbers over the last four to five years. Since 2004, Ramboll Telecom has tripled the size of its workforce to around 200 employees and its sales to close on DKK 200 million. With the IMIsoft acquisition, Ramboll Telecom’s workforce will number approx. 850 employees.
IFU as co-investor
The acquisition of IMIsoft is a joint project with the Danish Industrial Fund for Developing Countries (IFU). For the past 11 years, IFU has had a representative office in New Delhi.
"Since the early 1980s, we have been involved in establishing 75 Danish companies in India, and have therefore accumulated solid experience for assisting companies such as Ramboll with both financing and consulting in the start-up phase. India is a fantastic growth market. The domestic market is vast, while the workforce is both cheap and highly qualified," says Torben Huss, Head of Section with IFU.
For more information on this company:
Rambøll - Masts and Towers, Network Rollout Management and Turnkey Rollout Solutions
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