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Miro distribution profits from increasing competition in the wireless arena


Johannesburg, 09 Mar 2007

Many organisations in the ICT space wheel out the same old tired clich'es about competition being good for the sector and therefore they welcome it, but very few companies put their money where their mouth is and actually do something to encourage such competition.

Miro distribution, a distributor of wireless technologies, claims that it does exactly that with the training courses it offers, as a way of putting something back into the industry.

"Over the course of the past year, we have provided training to some 1 200 people, focusing on areas such as wireless technologies and Voice over IP (VOIP) in a vendor neutral manner," says Miro's CEO, Bertus van Jaarsveld.

"I think it's safe to say that since we began providing these training courses - which we now run through much of Sub-Saharan Africa - we have trained most of our competition's employees, as well as a number of people from Telkom and the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA)."

He points out that because these new technologies can seem quite daunting, Miro has a full-time trainer who presents these courses throughout South Africa and beyond, and that by training more people to understand the products, the company creates more awareness of the technology's potential and therefore increases the opportunities for growth in the sector, which in turn creates further opportunities for Miro itself.

"We don't do this training as a profit exercise either, it is all done at a nominal cost, but because it improves the knowledge base and skills within the wireless sector, it is advantageous to everyone who plays in this space."

van Jaarsveld says that when Miro began some four years ago, the term 'wireless' was considered to be something of a swearword in the industry, and yet it has grown so quickly since then that he believes it is now about to turn the traditional business models on their heads.

"Although we are purely a distributor of wireless, VOIP, wired networking and IP video products, we are also an industry leader in the emerging markets of wireless and VOIP and have a strong geographical presence in the major urban centres of South Africa."

He says that locally, the company is actively involved in the Wireless Access Providers Association (WAPA), a non-profit organisation that is geared towards the issues of self-regulation and compliance, and counts amongst its membership many of the key industry vendors and wireless ISPs that operate in the unlicensed ISM bands.

van Jaarsveld reckons it is amazing how far the wireless industry has come in the four years since Miro began, as it is now possible to provide high bandwidth and reasonably priced access to people (such as farmers) in remote areas, and that with everything converging onto IP, all their varying needs - from voice, to Internet to surveillance cameras - can be run over this single, rich medium.

"Miro has been achieving triple digit growth annually since the company was formed and, having acknowledged how important wireless technology is for Africa due to its low cost and fast roll out times, we have now opened a dedicated exports division dealing with the sub-Saharan region, and this has also been growing at over 100% per month."

"However, Miro has never been a profit-driven organisation, as we have always held a different view on how business should be done. We believe in growing the industry, the knowledge base and staying focused on both our customers and our staff, as this is what is important to us."

"Our company vision has always been to serve as an inspiration to our customers, our colleagues and the industry -including our competition - through everything we do, as we believe that the more the industry grows, the better it will be for everyone," he concludes.

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