THINK GLOBAL,
THINK LOCAL
4
networking
WHAT'S NewS Issue 4 April 1996
By definition, media and telecommunications is an industry
which demands a global approach. But equally it also
requires indepth local knowledge and expertise.The
brand-new media and telecommunications team, Alexander
Gelderman, Jerry van Kaathoven and Nico van Eyk,
expiains how the worldwide approach currently
being implemented can combine local know-how
with an international orientation to take
the bank to the top of this crucial sector for the future.
Jerry van Kaathoven
Like the 'global village', the 'information
age' has become something of a cliché.
But its rather ubiquitous application
makes it no less of a reality. Yet the
promotion of two of the information age's
offspring, media and telecommunications,
to the realms of the commonplace does
not make them any easier to grasp. In
terms of complexity, this sector, whether
national or international, is unlike any
other, not least because one of its essential
components - technology - is in constant
development. At the same time, it
represents a growth market with immense
opportunities, especially for banks.
RADICAL CHANGES
This is a very exceptional sector,'
Gelderman confirms. 'And not only
because of the technology aspect. Some of
the applications we'11 be taking for
Alexander Gelderman
granted in 10 years haven't even been
invented yet. Then there is the regulatory
environment. If you take telecom, you see
a sector which is rapidly moving from
primarily state ownership, which was
heavily regulated, to privatization,
deregulation and liberalization. As a
sector, we have been through or are
almost through these radical change
processes and we'vecome through as a
massive growth market. Until the year
2004, an estimated USD 1 trillion will be
invested in Communications worldwide.
Around half will come from existing cash
flow, but the remaining 50 percent will
have to be financed. That means real
opportunities for this bank, but also for
our competition. Currently, there are 10 to
15 major banking players in this sector -
most of them American, Canadian and
British. These are very serious, very
professional players. Our goal is to join
them and put Rabobank on the world
telecom map.'
HUGE EXPERTISE
Both Gelderman and Van
Kaathoven are quick to point
out this is also a very new
sector, primarily as a result of
privatization and the
introduction of competition.
'Because it is so new, it's a
sector that people have to get
used to,' says Van Kaathoven.
'One can distinguish various
risk layers within the industry.
Based on what we have
outlined here, our target
markets are primarily the cable
TV networks, cellular
(GSM/PCN) networks,
equipment suppliers and the
prime international media companies.
Over time, satellites, as one of the carrying
techniques for voice, data and image,
should be on our list as well, especially
while there is a tremendous growth
market in the Far East. In media, much
depends on goodwill, while the infra-
structural side of telecom can be under the
ground and pretty hard to get at, however
exclusieve licences and subscriber databases
represent tremendous values. But since we
joined the bank at the beginning of the
year, we've already found there's a really
good attitude here, an openness to ideas.
And we've also found there is huge
expertise and professionalism in a whole
range of areas. One of the ways we aim to
take the bank into the top global playing
field is to harness that international and
national expertise.'
ACTING GLOBALLY
'The essential thing in this business is
MEDIA EN TELECOM
MUNICATIE TEAM
De media- en telecommu
nicatiemarkt is booming
business. Geschat wordt dat tot het jaar
2004 in deze sector ca. USD 1 biljard
geïnvesteerd zal worden. Een belangrijke
markt dus voor banken. Binnen onze
organisatie wordt gewerkt aan een plan
voor de wereldwijde benadering van deze
sector, waarbij zowel de lokale kennis als de
internationale oriëntatie zeer belangrijk is.
Het Nederlandse team zal de diverse
telecom-teams in Europa.de Verenigde
Staten en het Verre Oosten ondersteunen,
zodat we niet alleen lokaal, maar ook
wereldwijd kunnen opereren.
