Several months ago, a Telefonica’s decision bankrupted Vitelcom, the only Spanish cellphone manufacturer. Over the last years, Telefonica had signed private brand contracts with the company based in Malaga, in order to be supplied with low-end handsets that they sold with its own brand, Movistar.
But two facts played against Vitelcom. In the first place, they were too small to survive in the race of costs and innovation in the handsets market. Secondly, Telefonica decided to reconsider its private brand policy, as branded cellphones are on the preferences of cellphone market customers.
In short, it was impossible for Vitelcom to compete against much bigger – and with recognized brand – companies like Nokia, Motorola, HTC,… Just remember that even big companies as Sony, Ericsson, Benq have experienced serious problems to compete in this harsh market.
But now, after several months of dark clouds, the sun starts shinning again. Up to three firms – Isofotón, Indra, Hyundai – were interested on acquiring Vitelcom.
After thoroughly considering the offers, the meeting of all the workers unanimously voted for the Korean firm, that included all the workers and installations of Vitelcom in the Parque Tecnológico de Andalucía (PTA), Malaga.
The plans of Hyundai are to turn Vitelcom into its electronic components factory in Europe.
Via Aecomo
