Counterfeits slash sales of Ubiquiti's wireless tech

Sales of Ubiquiti's flagship wireless technology dropped almost 50 per cent on the prior quarter as it continued to struggle against counterfeits.

The sales slump seen in the last quarter accelerated in the latest results, with AirMax revenues dropping from an already deflated $59m to $32.1m in three months. Ubiquiti blamed the fall on the sophisticated group of counterfeiters who continue to eat away at sales, particularly in South America and Asia Pacific.

The firm's chief executive Robert Pera is confident Ubiquiti is getting on top of the problem though, and issued better than expected guidance for the next quarter.

"I'm pleased with the progress we are making in attacking the issue, and I expect the revenue line will rebound in the future quarters," he said.

Surveillance of Asia suggests manufacturing of fake AirMax systems has "vastly declined," according to Pera, and the Ubiquiti legal team is taking steps to stop the counterfeiters. Once the current activities are stamped out Pera expects a combination of supply chain changes and anti-counterfeiting technology will stop a re-occurrence.

"We have a cloud server authorisation program, and we have hardware keys at the factory. So it's ... nearly impossible for bad guys to steal our intellectual property and reproduce a manufacturing factory for product lines outside of AirMax," Pera said.