Brisk business, quality visitors and excellent leads report CABSAT exhibitors

Numerous companies participating in the event for the first time said they were overwhelmed with the business opportunities the region holds and they expect to corner significant business following the exhibition. Meanwhile, several regular participants said the quality of visitors far surpassed that of previous editions.

The event, which was inaugurated by the UAE Minister of Communications, His Excellency Ahmed Humaid Al Tayer, attracted some 4500 trade professionals, including His Highness Sheikh Abdulla Bin Zayed Al Nahayan, Minister of Information for the UAE, who visited the exhibition on the second day of its three-day duration.

Intelsat of the U.S. was particularly impressed with the quality of visitors. "We have discovered that CABSAT visitors are very interested in broadband solutions and numerous senior officials and important decision-makers visit this show. We do not currently have a presence in the region but we are confident our visit will definitely pay off as there is a wealth of opportunity in the Gulf region alone," said Samir Dajani, Regional Vice President, Middle East and North Africa, adding that Intelsat will be back in 2003. He also said he anticipates Intelsat will bring more staff to field inquiries, including senior representatives from Asia and business development staff. This year the company had a contingent of five.

"CABSAT continues to mature with time, and the quality of visitors it attracts is exceptional," said Salman Choudhry, Managing Director of Star Vision the distributors of Echostar, adding that it was important to spend time with each and every visitor that dropped by. Echostar held the same opinion "CABSAT is the best satellite show in the Middle East and North Africa, and our expectations were met" said Steve Schaver, president of Echostar

Procast which participated in CABSAT for the first time this year said that they had a successful exhibition. "We are in negotiations with Orbit to air 10 channels in Dubai. If this deal goes through it would be one of the largest ever of its kind in the UAE," said Charbel Youman, Director of Operations, Procast.

Organisers of the four country pavilions in the exhibition - the U.K., Korea, Taiwan and Bavaria - all agreed that, in general, participants were enthused with the volume of traffic and quality of visitors, and almost all participants expressed interest in returning in 2003.

"The Taiwanese participants, both newcomers and regular exhibitors, were very pleased with the visitor response at CABSAT this year. The majority said they are looking forward to returning in the future because there are so many opportunities yet to be tapped in this region," said Favour Tien, of Tai-Den Co. Ltd., the coordinator for the Taiwanese Pavilion.

Leon Ren, Sales Manager with SMT Electronic Technology, a regular CABSAT exhibitor, said he anticipates the company will close deals valued at approximately US $1 million, once they have followed up on the various discussions they had during CABSAT. He said the company is eager to break into European markets and was pleased to meet with several potential clients from Turkey during the exhibition.

Meanwhile, Global Interactive Technology (GIT), which used the exhibition to launch its regional offices in Dubai and Abu Dhabi and also introduced its interactive television solutions for both analogue and digital systems at the show, was delighted with the response it received.

"We generated massive interest from senior government officials, network specialists and broadcasters. Furthermore, several program producers from throughout the Arab world expressed interest in our solutions and we have signed letters of intent with several new clients," said Fadi Riachi, Business Development Director for GIT.

Korean participants were also enthusiastic about their experience at CABSAT 2002. A representative with Teletech, a new participant in CABSAT, said they were overwhelmed with the re-exporting opportunities available through Dubai, particularly to Saudi Arabia, North Africa and Iran and they hope to expand their presence throughout the Middle East.

E-Rae Electronics, also of Korea, said the Dubai market looks promising for its plasma panels. Jae Ho Son, Chief of the company's Overseas Sales & Marketing Division said this was the company's first time in the Middle East region and they are confident they'll be back in the future, while DMSIS, Inc. another Korean newcomer said that their expectations were significantly surpassed.

"There's a definite boom in this market and we will be back in the future with a stronger presence," said Bies Kim of Dmsis.

Canadian newcomer, TriVision exhibited with representatives from Axeera, a wireless cable solution specialist and C-Cor, a company specialising in fibre optics and broadband equipment. They said they were astounded by the business opportunities in the region.

"We made some great contacts through this exhibition, if just two materialise this experience will have been well worth the effort. We expect to walk away with three or four major deals from various regions - and are particularly enthused with the response we had from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Qatar and Kuwait," said Cam Siddiquie, Senior Vice-President of Engineering and R&D with Tri-Vision Electronics, a world leader in V-Chip and IR technology.

"There is significant interest in both regional and international markets for the services E-Vision offers and we were delighted to have had the opportunity to network with several European visitors during CABSAT this year, particularly with representatives from the UK, France and Finland. We also fielded numerous inquiries from senior Qatari officials which has definitely enabled us to heighten awareness of E-Vision's broad range of services in that country," said M. Rashid Ali, Sales and Marketing Manager for E-Vision.

Meanwhile, Chadi Jarrouche, Sales Manager for Technosat said that CABSAT always generates quality participation and this year, Technosat's new receivers generated significant interest among many visitors. "We anticipate the numerous liaisons we had with representatives from Saudi Arabia and Oman during this event will enable us to further broaden our presence in these regions in the future," he added.

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