Menachem Kop's name could easily have been forgotten on the Israeli communications market. Had he not been so stubborn and such a strong fighter, as he was taught to be in the distant past in various nameless organizations, he would not be where he is today. Kop is general manager and controlling shareholder of Giltek Telecommunications (GILTEK), one of Israel's largest communications infrastructure companies, operating highly successful wholly-owned subsidiaries in Hungary and Brazil.
The venture that almost toppled Kop was the Hungarian project. At the beginning of the decade he joined forces with the Tal company in laying cables to exploit the opening up of the Hungarian communications market to competition, and set up an operating company there, believing it would be a financial bonanza. Kop, however, encountered difficulties, and found himself in a maze of events outside his control. His inexperience in this sort of business was exploited by his partners who were much bigger and stronger than he was.
At the time, Giltek's radiance was on the wane. The company, founded in 1989, was based on the setting up of networks for Israeli cable television companies. Business correspondents vied with one another for the top shot in delivering the death blow to Kop, and the lower the blow the better.
Kop, with a rare stubbornness, succeeded in reinstating what had been taken from Giltek in the Hungarian project, getting back on the right track, and even ultimately selling his holdings in the company for $20 million. It was evidently the last operating project he entered into as an investor.
In the meantime, Giltek founded a subsidiary in Hungary for the provision of communications infrastructure services which started to flourish. Kop is currently applying the same model in Brazil, which he entered through the cellular market, and he is also trying to enter the inland communications market.
Kop, with a good Ramat Hasharon background, is of Brazilian extraction and speaks Portuguese fluently. Before setting up Giltek, he spent a considerable number of years in South America as a communications engineer in many varied and strange projects. When he recognized the cellular potential in Brazil, at the same time as Chaim Mer, and understood that Cellcom's owners were about to win a prestigious tender in Sao Paulo, he set up Giltek Brazil and started laying the network, together with MER group subsidiary Belmerix, for the new concessionaire.
That was in 1997. In 1998, the initial stage was completed and another contract was signed. In 1999, Giltek Brazil started to sign contracts with additional cellular operators. A few weeks ago, Giltek, a Tel Aviv stock exchange listed company, reported orders for setting up communications networks in Brazil totaling $25 million, and additional expected orders in the near future.
Kop is currently negotiating with Israeli company GVT, which won a huge communications tender in Brazil. At the same time, Giltek is investing in the setting up of a fiber optic plant in Brazil, where Kop sees a rosier horizon.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on December 27, 1999