A multimillion pound distributor of antennas for mobile phone masts has relocated from Oxford to Wellesbourne Distribution Park, near Warwick.
Kathrein UK, whose parent company is in Germany, started in Oxford nine years ago and managing director Andrew Shrubsole has built it from scratch to a £15 million business, distributing mast antennas to the UK’s big four mobile phone networks.
“We are part of the world’s largest manufacturer of antennas for mobile phone masts and are sending about 12,000 masts a year to installers in the UK and Ireland,” said Mr Shrubsole. “This number will only increase with government plans to have 95 per cent mobile coverage throughout the UK by the end of the year.”
Mr Shrubsole said the Kathrein group also supplied antennas systems for mobile communications in cars, and for television broadcast and satellite television.
“’Kathrein UK has been concentrating on supplying mobile phone mast antennas to the UK and Ireland. However, we are increasingly becoming involved in the supply of antennas for television transmission, and this year we will be delivering local and indoor active distributed antennas systems (DAS), which improve mobile phone access in highly frequented hotspots such as pedestrian zones, airports, railway stations etc., much like Wi-Fi,” he said.
The move to Wellesbourne Distribution Park was handled by Leamington commercial property consultants ehB Commercial, whose director Simon Hain said: “Kathrein wanted somewhere with modern offices and sufficient warehousing from which to distribute masts to 30 or 40 sites a week and we were able to find them this 11,000 sq. ft. site.
“The Wellesbourne Distribution Park is flourishing and has some major international players on the site. Kathrein chose it because it is so close to motorway and rail networks, right in the hub of the country’s transport system. Warwickshire business parks are very much in demand for those reasons and when properties become vacant they are quickly snapped up,” he said.
