Nokia Oy, LM Ericsson Telefon AB and Motorola Inc may dismiss it as an irrelevance to their dominance of the mobile phone market, but they’d better watch out. In just six months the UK-based company Technology Partnership Plc, with only 350 people employed and revenues of 40m pounds for this year has become one of the largest suppliers of advanced cellular technology. Tony Milbourn, the company’s computers and communications manager, said 1 million units had been sold in the six months since the firm had won worldwide-type approval for its GSM chip-set, in other words the silicon chips, associated circuitry and software that form the package. And last week it announced it was supplying Vodafone Group Plc, the largest UK mobile operator, and Qualcomm Inc of the US with software for trials to develop the first phone capable of operating anywhere in the world. The firm claims to have 10% of the world market for the guts of mobile handsets, the package of electronics inside digital mobile phones which make them work. Future plans include the evolution of smaller, lighter and longer-battery life telephones than those in operations today as well as developments in satellite phones. Technology Partnership is an organization consisting of engineers working in fields as various as communications, pharmaceuticals and children’s toys. Around 77% of the company is owned by the staff while the rest belongs to venture capitalist 3I Group Plc and Australian firm Vision Systems Ltd.
