The beginning

Knighted in 1999 for his contribution to electronics, company founder Sir Angus Tait lived and breathed radio communications all his working life.

From school he went into a radio store, before joining the RNZAF at the outbreak of World War II. He was then transferred to the RAF in England where he worked on airborne radar.

Returning to New Zealand in 1947 he was soon in business designing and assembling mobile radios. This small enterprise was the forerunner of Tait Electronics Ltd, formed in 1969, in Christchurch, New Zealand, with a staff of 12 people.

The 1970s

This team produced a new generation of lightweight compact mobile radios that secured a majority share of the New Zealand market within a few years.

An unswerving commitment to research and development enabled those initial products to be developed into the award-winning Miniphone series of mobile radios by the mid-1970s.

By its tenth anniversary, Tait had launched a range of portable radios and base stations, and was exporting over 25% of its production. The first wholly-owned subsidiary was opened in the UK in 1979.

The years immediately following saw further subsidiaries established in the USA and Singapore, and the first of many export awards. The new series of synthesised Miniphones and the new range of T300 base station equipment were released around this time.

The 1980s

After a move to a larger manufacturing facility, the T500 series of mobile radios was released in the early 1980s. The success of the T500 triggered major new investment in advanced production technology and the opening of a fourth subsidiary in Australia.

Tait maintained this momentum, in terms of both innovation and growth, and in the mid-1980s a key strategic decision was made to move into trunking technology. Substantial investment followed in a broad range of trunked products and TaitNet systems based on the MPT 1327 standard.

The 1990s

The acclaimed T800 series of modular base station and repeater equipment was on the market by 1990. In that year, the T700 series appeared and two years later advanced SMD techniques saw the release of the new generation T2000 mobile radios.

Additional offshore subsidiaries were opened and in 1993, the T3000 series of hand-portables and the Quasi-Sync base station/repeater systems were introduced, followed in 1994 by a family of rural telephone products.

The first in a series of mobile data despatch products for use with the T2000 radios was also launched in 1994. That range now includes sophisticated mobile data solutions including Automatic Vehicle Location, using GPS, and the use of electronic fund transfer terminals in vehicles.

The momentum of mobile radio development continued, and in late 1996 the T3000 Series II, an enhanced version of the popular portable series, went to market. Early 1997 Tait's top selling T2000 range was also updated with the launch of the T2000 Series II.

In 1998 Tait released its most sophisticated portable radio range, the Tait Orca series, the product of advanced software design and a highly automated manufacturing process. Additional base station and system enhancements followed, including the cost-effective T1810 single-site trunked channel controller, before the release of Tait's current portable radio range, the Tait Orca 5000.

Where we are today

2003 saw the release of the first of our exciting 8000 series of base stations and mobiles which will eventually replace our most popular products, the T800 base station and T2000 mobile.

A new era has dawned for Tait with the launch of the company's first digital products: the 9000 series of APCO P25 compliant portable and mobile terminals, a base station and an IP-based network.

Today Tait has offices in 10 countries and a network of distributors and dealers in another 150 nations. We employ about 800 people around the world and export about 95% of products from our Christchurch, New Zealand base.

In August 2007, Sir Angus Tait passed away at the age of 88. However, staff continune to build on the foundations he established.