MediaTek to focus on 4G segment in India in 2018, 5G globally

While it pushes 5G in the global markets in 2018, mobile chipset maker MediaTek will, in India, continue to focus on the 4G segment, David Ku, the firm’s Chief Financial Officer, has said.
“Globally, the company is likely to invest the highest on fifth generation (5G) connectivity, followed by the 4G segment,” Ku told IANS in an interview.
“4G is definitely for India. 5G is, arguably, for India as well, but not in the next year,” he said, adding, however, that in the next two to three years the chipset maker would bring 5G to the country.
He said the automotive segment would be next in their global priority list followed by Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC). In 2018 and 2019, 5G would be pertinent for China, the US, Europe and Japan, among others.
The company on June 5 had announced that it would commercially deploy its first 5G modem “Helio M70” in 2019, and some of its key partners would be Nokia, NTT DoCoMo and Huawei.
Talking about MediaTek’s business in the country, Ku, who is also the Senior Corporate Vice President of the company, said revenue from India is about 10-15 per cent of the overall revenue and, in 2017, the growth rate “was very good”, given the low base of the company in the country.
MediaTek’s current market share in India is around one-third and the company is trying to be the market leader, Ku said.
On the outlook for the current year, he emphasised: “Growth rate is definitely double-digit for India in 2018.”
In 2017, however, the global performance of the company slowed on a year-on-year basis, he said, adding that, on a quarterly observation “from Q3 (July-September) of last year, the performance started recovering”.
“I think, in general, last year we did okay, but profitability-wise (it went down), due to our product portfolio… especially on the smartphone side”, leading to loss of some market share in China.
“Our market share in China alone is around 40-45 per cent, but last year it was down to 30 (per cent), but this is we have come back to 40-45 per cent… and want to maintain that level.”
MediaTek is currently listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and asked about its plans of listing in other exchanges, Ku said: “Currently we don’t have any plans for listings.”
The financial performance of the modem maker in the current fiscal has been as per the guidance, the CFO informed.
“For the first quarter we were basically in line with our guidance, for the second quarter… we have not closed the quarter, but in general it is in line with our guidance.”
“The topline guidance on a quarter-on-quarter basis is to grow 12-20 per cent for the second quarter. I think we should be looking for a mid-high of this range…which means it is pretty good,” he added.