Long-range cordless phones

	The 358R Ultra from mainland China's Fujian Baotong supports up to 99 handsets and multiple-language display.

R&D activities take the backseat, with new models featuring mostly housing design innovations.

Suppliers of long-range cordless phones in mainland China and Taiwan see the downtrend of the past few years persisting in 2008, as demand continues to drop and price competition tightens further. Suppliers in both regions have been leaving the line or downsizing their long-range cordless phone business. Some Taiwan makers are transferring their facilities to the mainland, thus reducing further the island’s production, although this development could boost mainland China’s output. Production and export volumes will not likely grow notably in 2008 in both suppy markets. Taiwan’s longrange cordless phone shipments have been declining.

Mainland China makers, which have been export-driven, will look to their OEM business to sustain the line. In fact, suppliers plan to focus on their export markets instead of product development. Only a handful of companies will be investing in new product development, as most suppliers will just add value with new housing designs, compact handsets, color LCD panels and other similar features.

Nonetheless, buyers will still find multiple-handset systems, some of them expandable to support as many as 99 handsets. Many units from mainland China support multiple-language menus and displays, intercom or walkie-talkie between handsets, and call transfer. The operating range varies depending on the area of use.
Taiwan now has less than 10 makers of cordless phones, with only about five actively pursuing the line. The top manufacturers include Kingtel Corp., Senao Networks Inc. and Rexon Technology Corp. Other active players include George Tang Industrial Corp., Harvest Technology Corp., and Hotware Wireless Co. Ltd. The other suppliers have either switched to other products such as Bluetooth peripherals or VoIP products. Some manufacturers have started forming strategic alliances with other suppliers to boost their competitiveness.

Mainland China’s long-range cordless phone industry is concentrated in Fujian province, with the city of Quanzhou serving as the locus of product development and production. More than 95 percent of mainland China’s long-range cordless phone output comes from Fujian.

Quanzhou has about 20 makers of long-range cordless phones. However, the slow demand for long-range cordless phones and makers’ shift to other communication products continue to push the line to a downtrend.

More than 80 percent of makers on the mainland are locally owned. These are mostly small and mediumsized makers with a total annual sales of less than $10 million for all their products. Many smaller players on the mainland have dropped the long-range cordless phone line due to sluggish sales. Some of the surviving players are selling stock products.

	Fujian Baotong from mainland China has released the BT-1258, an extra small cordless phone that automatically scans 240 channels to avoid interferences.

Qixiang Electron Science & Technology Co. Ltd produces long-range cordless phones, two-way radios and wireless communication repeaters. The company said that the long-range cordless phone industry was more stable in 2007 than in 2006, but the product development pace has been slower compared with that for other products. This is why the company has no plans to actively pursue R&D on long-range cordless phones and will instead focus on two-way radios and wireless communication repeaters.

Quanzhou Henghui Plastic Electron Industry Co. Ltd, which has been making two-way radios and long-range cordless phones since 1991, shifted its R&D focus to the former in 2007. Its total shipments of long-range cordless phones in 2007 were estimated at only about 1,000 units. The company said that its current customers for long-range cordless phones are long-term clients, and Henghui does not expect any new clients for this line.

Quanzhou Nanfone Telecommunications Co. Ltd has five production lines that can churn out 20,000 long-range cordless phones and 20,000 walkie-talkies a month.

The company has also begun producing Bluetooth headsets. It offers OEM and ODM services, collectively accounting for about 80 percent of the company’s output. The rest of the company’s output carries the company’s own brand.

Fujian Baotong Electronics Co. Ltd can produce 1,000 long-range cordless phones a day. The company noted a 10 percent increase in sales value in 2007.

Most Taiwan makers have shifted their production to mainland, except for major players that continue to conduct manufacturing in Taiwan. Senao established its production base in its new building in Taoyuan. The building has eight floors, of which four floors are for the factory. Senao conducts SMT, manual component insertion, painting and silkscreen printing, and final assembly in-house. It has two wave-soldering assembly lines, 10 shielded rooms and 12 test stations. The four final assembly lines have 13 shielded rooms and 20 test stations. There are 196 workers devoted to SMT, DIP, final assembly and repair processes, and 15 technicians are in charge of electrical parts, mechanical parts and cost controls, and warehouse management. Senao left a two-story production space unutilized for future expansion.

George Tang produces long-range cordless phones and wireless PBXs in its factory in Taiwan. It subcontracts mold making, plastic injection molding and silkscreening, and handles in-house SMT, PCB subassembly, final assembly and QC.

Yu-Li Telecom Co. Ltd, which started producing longrange cordless phones in 2007, conducts SMT, assembly, QC and packaging in its factory in Shenzhen, Guangdong. The company has cosmetic design houses in Taiwan and mainland China.

	Taiwan's Senao has released the SN-358, a long-range cordless phone that supports 12km communication range, multiple channels, walkie-talkie and auto scan.

Mainland China suppliers offer low-end, midrange and high-end long-range cordless phones, with high-end models featuring novelty designs and value-added features. With product development practically at a standstill, the main product trends focus on compact and lightweight handsets. Some models have multiple ring tones, color LCD panels and multiple-language menus.

Nanfone, which offers products for industrial and business applications, supplies both long-range and super long-range cordless phones with anti-jamming capabilities. One of the features being emphasized by the company is the multiple-language menu. The company offers phones with built-in Russian and Arabic menus.

The NF-8908 long-range cordless phone from Nanfone has a multiple-language display that supports Arabic, Russian, Turkish and English. It uses PLL frequency system with super anti-interference that changes the code and frequency randomly by pin-code operation when it meets any interference. It supports a communication range of about 30km to 60km in open areas.

The NF-8908 has a built-in compressor and expander circuit that ensures clearer sound quality. It supports 24-chord ring tones. The menu operation can support telephone number search and quick dial. It also features a full-duplex intercom with the base unit and call transfer between the handsets.

All of the long-range cordless phones from Fujian Baotong support an operation range exceeding 15km and at least 15 handsets. The products support VHF or UHF. Fujian Baotong plans to launch a new product in 2008, the BT-358R Ultra. It supports up to 99 handsets, each capable of storing 50 phone-book entries with names and numbers. The handsets also support power saving function. Users can transfer calls between the handsets and the base unit. The phone has a battery charge indicator and auto power control. It also supports a multiple-language display.

Qixiang Electron’s long-range cordless phones support 30km to 128km operating range and VHF and UHF. The company’s AT-359Plus is a 400MHz UHF long-range cordless phone that supports three-way conversation, FSK/DTMF dual-system caller ID with date and time, 100,000 sets of security codes and walkie-talkie between handsets. It features 12 ring tones, MCU control, adjustable volume, power saving, long standby time and frequency synthesizing. The base unit works as a wireless PBX system with support for up to 10 handsets.

Most mainland companies source components from Shenzhen in Guangdong and Xiamen in Fujian. The key components used in a long-range cordless phone include the MCU, PLL IC, baseband IC, medium frequency demodulation IC and LCD module.

	The AT-3288 Plus from mainland China's Qixiang Electron supports PLL technology and walkie-talkie between handsets.

Many suppliers in Taiwan offer several cordless phone technologies, but a growing number of companies are starting to focus more on DECT phones. Rexon, Netvox Technology Co. Ltd and Advance Wireless Technology Corp., produce DECT phones. Kingtel can provide 2.4GHz and DECT phones. Senao produces 2.4GHz, 900MHz and long-range cordless phones.

Yu-Li Telecom also currently produces DECT phones. Its DECT-209 is a DECT phone system that supports 300m outdoor and 50m indoor communication ranges. Its base unit registers up to four handsets with intercom support. The base unit supports 110V or 220V AC power input and 5W power consumption. It weighs 350g.

The DECT-209’s handsets can register up to four base units. The handsets support 10 sets of redialing, 20 sets of phone book entries and 6hr talk time each. Each handset measures 150x47x34mm and weighs 110g, with power coming from three AAA batteries.

Makers are combining DECT phones with VoIP applications. Some models support SIP protocol. Others support USB connection and achieve VoIP through Internet telephony programs such as Skype or MSN Messenger.

Senao and George Tang, meanwhile, have the capability to provide analog and digital long-range cordless phones. Senao has two R&D centers to handle housing and software designs in Taiwan and Seattle in the US. Its analog long-range cordless phone, the SN-358, supports a communication range of 12km. It features multiple channels with auto scan, 99 handsets and walkie-talkie. The model’s base unit supports 394MHz and 1W power output. The handsets support 268MHz and 450mW power output.

The SN-358 supports speakerphone, 30 caller ID memory with time and date, and phone book with 30 entries with name and number. It features a backlit LCD and handset keypad.

Senao’s digital long-range cordless phone, the SP-922, can be expanded to four base units supporting four lines per base unit and 90 handsets. Its communication range is up to 12 floors in a building and 22.5sqm in manufacturing areas. The model can work off analog CO lines or behind PBX off analog ports. Its base unit and handsets support 902MHz to 928MHz. It uses Li-ion batteries and supports 6hr talk time and 50hr standby time.

Prices of long-range cordless phones in Taiwan have decreased due to the continuing price war. Taiwan suppliers provide high-end cordless phones in niche markets to help stabilize prices, but makers expect export prices to continue going down.

Prices on the mainland are more stable, and companies forecast 2008 export prices to remain at 2007 levels. Lowend long-range cordless phones from mainland China are priced at less than $40 each. Midrange model are quoted from $50 to $60 per unit. High-end products are available for $70 to $100 each.

Fujian Baotong said that as long as the prices of the components are stable, there would not be big change on the prices of its products.

According to Taiwan Customs, makers from the island exported cordless handsets valued at $9.19 million in H1 2007, a 37.93 percent decrease from $14.82 million during the same period in 2006. In terms of volume, Taiwan exported 104,926 sets of cordless handsets in H1 2007, down by 93.09 percent from H1 2006 shipments of 1.52 million units. Taiwan cordless phone suppliers are struggling to survive in the dwindling market, with makers shipping to the Americas, the Middle East, Asia, Australia, Europe and Africa.

Senao distributes its cordless phones through its own brand. The company provides analog long-range cordless phones to emerging markets in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Its digital long-range cordless phones go to North America and Australia. The company plans to keep expanding its export markets in the coming years.

George Tang exports all of its products. The Americas account for half of its total sales; Europe for 40 percent; and the Middle East for the rest. Yu-Li Telecom is engaged in ODM and private-label businesses. More than 80 percent of its cordless phones are sold through private labels. In 2008, the company plans to expand its markets in mainland China and Southeast Asia.

Mainland China makers, particularly those based in Fujian, focus on the overseas markets. All Fujian companies export their long-range cordless phones due to the law that bans domestic distribution of long-range cordless phones in mainland China. The major export markets are Africa, South America, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

Some companies also ship some products to Europe and North America. Europe, North America and South America are the main export markets of Qixiang Electron. Long-range cordless phones from Quanzhou Henghui are distributed to the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Africa, South America and Eastern Europe. Fujian Baotong’s main markets are South America, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Africa, Europe and North America. Russia is one of the markets with a fast growth rate. Long-range cordless phones from Nanfone are shipped to the Middle East, Africa and South America.