scte member focus
Looking back over nearly 30 years, what moments stand out most? Without question, the digital switchover changed everything. Demand for aerials was phenomenal. The whole industry benefited and, if we’re honest, those were very good years. But hindsight is a wonderful thing. While everyone was enjoying the boom, not enough of us were thinking about what came afterwards. One exercise I was given before becoming MD was to produce a report on what the market would look like after digital switchover. I spoke to respected people across the industry and one answer has stayed with me: “Something will turn up.”
Member FOCUS
Trevor Paintain Managing Director, Antiference
That wasn’t quite enough for my report!
It taught me an important lesson though. You can’t rely on the next opportunity simply appearing—you have to go looking for it. How did Antiference stay ahead as the market evolved? The biggest challenge has always been replacing declining markets with new opportunities. As demand for traditional aerial products reduced, we introduced TV brackets, HDMI accessories, networking products, Wi-Fi access points, IP switches and a wide range of complementary products. The aim has always been simple: sell more products to the same professional customers by understanding what they’ll need next. We attend exhibitions across the Far East, USA & Europe looking for the next opportunity. Everyone hopes to discover the next game-changing product, but the reality is that success often comes from spotting dozens of smaller opportunities rather than one huge one. That’s really how we’ve kept moving forward—continually adapting rather than standing still. Antiference has built an outstanding reputation over many decades. What’s the secret?
Following almost three decades with Antiference, including 16 years as Managing Director, Trevor reflects on an industry transformed by digital switchover, streaming, fibre and IP. Throughout it all, one thing has remained constant: the need to anticipate change before it arrives.
What first attracted you to a career in telecoms and how did you end up at Antiference? I actually came into the industry by accident. My background was in marketing rather than engineering, having worked for companies including John Dickinson Stationery, Sheaffer Pens and McCarthy & Stone before joining Antiference in 1997 in a sales role. I’ll admit that, technically, it was a steep learning curve. One of my earliest lifelines was an “idiot’s guide” written by a retired engineer Ralph Stallworthy that explained complicated concepts in plain English. I still remember its explanation of the difference between a splitter and a diplexer using fish and chips. A splitter gives you fish and chips, followed by fish and chips. A diplexer gives you fish on one side and chips on the other. It stood me in very good stead, that explanation. That summed up my approach throughout my career. There was little need for me to become the technical expert, I just I needed to understand enough to ask the right questions, listen
to the people who did know, and help customers solve problems.
Tell us about your journey to becoming Managing Director. Because of my marketing background I gradually took on responsibility beyond sales, moving into marketing and then managing the sales team. By 2008 I was Sales and Marketing Manager, and when the opportunity arose I put myself forward to become Managing Director. I officially took over in January 2010, shortly before the business changed ownership. It was a fascinating time because we’d been owned by venture capital investors who instilled incredibly disciplined reporting and financial management. Those systems taught me a huge amount about running a business, and I’ve kept many of those principles ever since. Sometimes the best management lesson is recognising that if something works, don’t reinvent it.
Quality has always come first. I’ve often said people are perfectly entitled to
24
SEPTEMBER 2026 Volume 48 No.3
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker