In many instances, the neighborhood modem maker's customer base is regional, and defined by national borders or geographic regions that share a common language. In smaller countries, their company's name may be as well known as IBM or Digital is in the United States. However, these vendors still face a monumental challenge in grabbing share in their targeted market. In addition to battling against the names and reputations of the industry leaders, many of the regional manufacturers will have to compete with late to market goods, less than orthodox technology and higher than industry norm price tags. Despite what may be perceived as enormous obstacles, it is likely that the vendors have been facing similar challenges in the broadband networking industry.
Regional manufacturers have inherent competitive advantages in their own market.
With many of the world's cable systems operated by the government, it is probable that vendors that are native to the nation will be the first considered for data communications equipment. Secondly, local vendors will be able to quickly manufacture products that might meet unique specifications for that particular region. Next, local vendors can offer regionally specific add-ons such as content packages in the region's native language. They can also offer networking and infrastructure connectivity solutions with an ease that would be unreachable by many of the other vendors. Last, and most importantly, regional manufacturers have the ability to create close relationships with system operators.