MalaysiaGIS.com

Source: New Straits Times

"We are talking about personnel growth of 25 to 30 percent this year," says Masripan Salleh, managing director, C-Tel Malaysia Sdn Bhd, who owns 60 per cent of the company.

Presently, the staff size stands at 30, with two offices in two different locales, since year 2000. This, he says, is to segregate its operations, as in the execution of projects, from administration, business development, and sales and marketing.

Although founded in 1991 by ex-Telekom employees (who now have minority stakes in the company), C-Tel only started active operations in 1995. Originally named Canggih Telekomunikasi, the name change came about in year 2000 with the need to have a more global feel in mind.

The initial funding for the company of RM200,000 was out of Masripan's own pocket. However in 1997, they secured some trade financing facilities worth RM2 million from Maybank and RHB (at that time was Sime Bank, and UMBC).

The company's first major project was with Esso Malaysia which was worth some RM2 million. It other big clients include Petronas, Shell and Gas Malaysia.

Application Development
The company began by focusing purely on telecommunications for the oil and gas industry, and later moved on to process control related automation systems.

In 1998, C-Tel ventured into application development during its project with Gas Malaysia.

In Masripan's opinion, it is imperative for companies involved to also develop applications. "In this way, we can maximize our profit," he explains.

C-Tel was asked to develop a geographical distribution information system (GDIS) for Gas Malaysia.

Basically, GIS is a computer system capable of assembling, storing, manipulating and displaying geographically referenced information, such as data identified according to their locations. With GIS, the maps and other data stored or filed as layers of information make it possible to perform complex analyses.

In the case of Gas Malaysia, the maps feature all the locations where the pipes belonging to Gas Malaysia are located at. Assets can be quantified along with its specifications and physical details. The real-time online information is crucial for management and maintenance purposes.

According to Masripan, the basic system used actually comes from a GIS company called GE-Smallworld.

However, the application, which is the additional support provided for customers, is developed locally by C-Tel. C-Tel's other technology partners include Saperion AG, Lucent Technologies, Ericsson, Alcatel, Cisco, Dell, HP, Compaq and Ingram Micro.

Recent Developments
"We are close to securing substantial contracts from the telecommunications industry as well as in the area of application development and automation system," says Masripan.

At this point, he values those contracts to be around RM20 million to RM30 million.

The only issue here is C-Tel's financial capability to handle the projects. To resolve this issue, C-Tel is looking at two options. "One is from a foreign bank for loan amounting to about US$15 million and from a private Singaporean investor who is willing to invest RM50 million," reveals Masripan.

The investment form the latter, he says will be used to finance another yet-to-be secured project, which is worth more than RM20 million.

Until recently, C-Tel has only secured projects amounting to RM2 million to RM3 million.

Based on contracts at hand, he projects growth in 2002 to be at 100 percent, as compared to 2001. "Our revenue last year was rather disappointing. Although we managed to secure RM8 million to RM10 million in sales, we only managed to complete half of the projects in 2001," states Masripan.

The inability to meet our internal deadlines was primarily caused by their rapid expansion, and the inadequate technical skills necessary. "We underestimated the period needed to acquire the necessary technical skills for the projects," says Masripan. This is one of the lessons learnt from past experiences.

Plans for Listing
For the purpose of gaining recognition and raising more capital, C-Tel hopes to eventually get listed on the stock exchange. But at the moment, there is no definite time frame yet.

"Maybe in the next two to five years, depending on the situation of the company," says Masripan.

Currently, our annual avenue stands at around RM10 million. We expect to double or triple our revenue in the next three years," says Masripan.

As for marketing strategies, expansion plans will include the Asian region as well as the Middle East market.

In spite of the heavy competition posed by local heavyweights like CSA, Heitech Padu Sdn Bhd and Mesiniaga, C-Tel feels neither threatened nor daunted.

"Being small has its advantages, especially during negotiations where we are able to make decisions faster," says Masripan.