Global overview
Market developments
Clients and products
The most amazing fact l've come across
sincejoining the Telecom, Media Internet
(TMI) Group is that half the population of
the world has yet to make a phone call,'
says Ed Smith, who became Global Head
of the TMI Group in autumn 2004. This
assurance of future demand and growth
in emerging markets, like India and China,
is what makes the sector so exciting.'
Unlike most other Rl business units, which
operate on a predominantly regional
basis, the TMI Group is centrally managed,
to support coordinated portfolio
management and global risk monitoring.
The Utrecht office covers Benelux, Central,
Southern and Eastern Europe and also
provides head office functions, such as
control and research coordination.The
remainder of the group is managed via
regional hubs in Chicago (covering North
America), London (UK and Scandinavia)
and Hong Kong (Asia).
'Our expertise is concentrated within a
small group of relationship managers,
spread across a broad network of
locations,' says Smith. This enables us to
introducé our clients to new markets and
business opportunities that they might,
otherwise, have overlooked.'
The TMI Group studies national markets
individually, in order to understand their
unique characteristics and evolutionary
positions. 'We also take account of
international trends, cost dynamics and
consumer preferences,' says Smith. 'I need
to know that China is the world's factory
for cheap mobile handsets and that Hong Kong customers
upgrade their handsets every three months.'
A central theme within the TMI sector is the convergence of
fixed-line telephony services, mobile services and the internet.
'Mobile and internet service providers have pushed the industry
into previously unimaginable areas of content and quality, but
this has also led to the decline of some fixed-line telephony
operators,' Smith explains. The mobile sector is continuing to
develop, especially in emerging markets, where subscriber
growth will continue to be the name of the game for the
foreseeable future. In more developed markets, the emphasis has
shifted towards mobile data services, through 3G mobile
networks, WiMax and WiFi.'
On the fixed side of the telecom service industry, developments
are dominated by the spectacular broadband take up on a
worldwide scale. 'This growth in broadband is partly at the
expense of other sub-sectors and traditional voice services, in
particular,' says Smith. 'We have reached a stage where revenues
are shifting not only from one product group to another but also
from one carrier to another, especially with broadband providers
moving into PayTV. An interesting consequence of this move is
the long-heralded convergence of telecom and media, and
triple-play product packages (telephony, TV and internet) have
become an established and accepted way for companies to
capture and retain customers.'
The TMI Group has built up relationships with around 120 clients
worldwide, in places ranging from Den Haag to Hong Kong,
Madrid to Mumbai and Chicago to Shanghai. The type of cliënt
ranges from the large incumbents with international operations
in key markets (e.g. KPN, Telefonica, Telecom Italia) to domestic
players operating in key national markets (e.g. German cable
companies KDG and EWT).
This year, we expect around 75% of total income to come from
traditional loans, whether as bilaterals or syndicated loans,' Smith
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