Tait Communications announces purchase of RFI Technology Solutions

New Zealand-based LMR vendor Tait Communications today announced its purchase of RFI Technology Solutions, an Australia-based manufacturer and integrator of network antenna equipment used in LMR and cellular communications system.

Tait Communications CEO and Managing Director Yoram Benit (pictured above) noted the versatility of RFI’s network solutions and expressed enthusiasm about the Australian company’s in-building offerings.

“RFI is a great company,” Benit said during an interview with IWCE’s Urgent Communications. “They develop, manufacture and distribute high-quality antenna systems and coverage enhancements, not only for land mobile radio but also for carriers using 4G and 5G. They have an amazing solution for in-building coverage and tunnel coverage for Wi-Fi and broadband.

“They are very well positioned in Australia with carriers. I think that [in-building] technology, among all of the other manufacturers of antenna systems, is basically number 1 … So, their brand name is very strong.”

This RFI brand will remain in the marketplace, even with Tait completing its acquisition of the company, according to Benit.

“They’re running independently,” he said. “We’re looking for some areas where we can find synergies, but we’re leaving them alone. They’re performing very well. If it works, why go and break it, right?

“In the coming years, of course, we’ll look into [greater integration between Tait and RFI]. But at the moment, they’re performing very well, and we’ll keep them [operating] independently.”

One potential synergy that the companies will explore is having RFI develop antennas for Tait devices, such as mobile and portable radios. Benit expressed confidence that RFI has the technical expertise to design and manufacture such antennas, but he said that it would be at least a year before such a development process could be completed.

In the meantime, Tait will try to help expand the RFI customer base, particularly in the North American in-building-coverage market, Benit said.

“The reason we acquired them is because we see the massive opportunity in North America—using [RFI] technologies—not only with public-safety agencies and utilities but with large carriers such as AT&T, Verizon and others,” Benit said.

“There is a huge opportunity to introduce RFI equipment with the large carriers in North America. That’s what drove us to acquire them.”

Tait Communications is very familiar with RFI Technology Solutions, having been a loyal customer of the Australian company for decades, according to Benit.

“They established the company in 1979 and, since then, we’ve been buying equipment from RFI. When the opportunity rose to look at them and do the due diligence, we were very excited, because we had decades of experience using their equipment, and it never failed,” Benit said. “Once you install it at a site, you forget about it—nobody talks about the combiners and the filters.

“We have units on sites that we installed 20 or 25 years ago, and they’re still operational. So, it’s very reliable equipment.”

Benit said Tait’s acquisition of RFI involved a combination of cash and stock, but terms of the deal—involving two private companies—are not being disclosed.