He remains group chairman and majority owner,

Subaskaran’s decision to step down from his directorship appears to be part of this restructuring process, aimed at restoring governance credibility and satisfying external stakeholders, including regulators and tax authorities.

His ongoing involvement is expected to be more strategic than operational as the company attempts to stabilise its finances and rebuild trust with partners and regulators under the control of his long-time business partner Premananthan Sivesasamy who  already oversees strategic, commercial, and financial matters across the 23 countries in which Lyca Mobile operates.

Subaraskaran’ resignation, formally recorded at Companies House on 13 June, comes after a turbulent year for the UK-based MVNO, which operates in more than 20 countries and has long marketed itself as a low-cost international mobile provider.  He remains chairman.

Lycamobile’s problems intensified in June 2024 when its auditor, PKF Littlejohn, refused to sign off the company’s 2022 accounts. The auditor cited a lack of “sufficient appropriate audit evidence” related to related-party loans and the recoverability of significant intercompany balances.

This refusal followed a pattern of missed deadlines, late filings, and growing concerns over the company’s corporation tax liabilities, large VAT arrears, and opaque internal loan arrangements.

Tax and VAT Battles

The group also became embroiled in a series of disputes with HMRC, including a £51 million VAT ruling and an estimated total liability potentially approaching £100 million. These issues prompted winding-up petitions filed by HMRC in August 2024.

Meanwhile, in France, Lycamobile’s local operation was earlier found guilty of VAT fraud and money laundering, resulting in a €10 million fine and criminal convictions of senior executives, including the former French CEO. In January Lyca announced it was slashing London head count to 48 as it reorganises to concentrate on Africa markets

Mobile News has requested a statemet from the company.

]]> https://mobilenewscwp.co.uk/news/article/lycam-founder-steps-director-amid-financial-turmoil/feed/ 0 https://mobilenewscwp.co.uk/news/article/lyca-slash-london-head-count-48-reorganises-conentrate-africa-markets/ https://mobilenewscwp.co.uk/news/article/lyca-slash-london-head-count-48-reorganises-conentrate-africa-markets/#respond Tue, 07 Jan 2025 20:20:45 +0000 https://mncwp.tailrd.cloud/lyca-slash-london-head-count-48-reorganises-conentrate-africa-markets/ Lyca Group’s London operation will be cut to a skeleton staff of 48 to handle regulatory and compliance issues as part of a reorganisation to streamline its business operations, slash costs and improve global growth. Lyca’s is consulting with around 300 staff about the job cuts. The UK workforce will be reduced to a core

Lyca Group’s London operation will be cut to a skeleton staff of 48 to handle regulatory and compliance issues as part of a reorganisation to streamline its business operations, slash costs and improve global growth.

Lyca’s is consulting with around 300 staff about the job cuts. The UK workforce will be reduced to a core team of around 48 people, focusing on compliance and financial operations requiring local presence. Other functions will be managed from service centres or newly established global hubs.

The transformation focuses on strengthening its presence in Africa, particularly in existing markets like Uganda, through its Lyca MNO. The company also plans to expand into additional countries and launch new digital brands in Spain and the USA.

Lyca will consolidate its global business services by expanding current service centres and establishing new hubs. Country-specific operations will transition into a “leaner, sales-focused organization” to enhance efficiency and competitiveness.

Lyca Group is reviewing its operations to identify opportunities for growth, operational streamlining, and cost savings. The resulting efficiencies will be reinvested into market expansion and customer-focused initiatives.

“Lyca’s strategic reorganisation is a bold step forward, ensuring we remain a leader in delivering affordable, high-quality telecom solutions to our customers globally,” said Premananthan Sivasamy, Deputy Chairman of Lyca Group. “This paradigm shift enhances our efficiency and strengthens our ability to adapt to a rapidly-changing industry, ultimately benefiting our customers, partners, and employees”.

Lycamobile has faced significant challenges related to VAT liabilities. These issues arose from the VAT treatment of customer bundles, which include data, call, and text allowances. Lyca argued that VAT should apply only when customers use these allowances. However, a July 2024 tax tribunal ruled in favour of HMRC, determining that VAT is chargeable at the point of sale, regardless of usage. This ruling affects bundles sold over seven years, with the disputed VAT amounting to £51 million.

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Schäfer (main pic) has worked in UK and international telecoms for more than 22 years and has held positions at Three UK, Vodafone UK, Onecom, as well as Lebara.

Lyca Group claims to globally have16 million customers in telecommunications, entertainment, travel, healthcare and financial services.

“As the world’s largest MVNO, we have built a loyal customer base and there is a golden opportunity to extend that base by targeting a broader value-seeking market.. We will be relentless in delivering against our three priorities of value, customer service and reliability” he said.

Subaskaran Allirajah, Lyca Group Chairman (below), added: “I am delighted to announce Richard’s appointment as Group CEO. Since joining the business, he has already had a transformational impact. He will play a critical role in the ongoing growth of the Lyca Group internationally.”

Lyca Mobile chairman, Allirajah Subaskaran, said:

“The convenience of seamless connectivity is more important than ever. Lyca Mobile’s eSIM service provides a more convenient way to stay connected without the need for a physical SIM card. eSIMs will quickly become the norm.

“They provide many benefits including making it easier to switch between business, personal, and international networks on the same device, and to change SIM without the need for a SIM card.”

The GSMA, predicts that by 2025, 35 per cent of all smartphone network connections will be made via eSIM as the telecommunications industry looks to the future.

Lyca Mobile operates in 22 countries across five continents – including the UK, USA, large parts of Europe and Africa with more than 16 million customers worldwide. It says a new customer joins every two seconds.

]]> https://mobilenewscwp.co.uk/news/article/lyca-mobile-launches-uk-esim-service/feed/ 0 https://mobilenewscwp.co.uk/news/article/lyca-mobile-launches-5g-service-no-extra-cost-android-customers/ https://mobilenewscwp.co.uk/news/article/lyca-mobile-launches-5g-service-no-extra-cost-android-customers/#respond Wed, 08 Dec 2021 12:32:16 +0000 https://mncwp.tailrd.cloud/lyca-mobile-launches-5g-service-no-extra-cost-android-customers/ Apple users will benefit from these 5G plans next year, the MVNO confirmed

Lyca Mobile has announced plans to invest £250 million during the next three years as the MVNO eyes up ambitious growth.

The UK-based MVNO which is part of the multinational Lyca Group is investing the money to fund a new state-of-the-art technology platform, content partnerships and international expansion.

Lyca Mobile has traditionally been a low-cost international calling network, but is aiming to grow its target market through a new set of differentiated products, content and services.

This multi-million pound investment comes off the back of an additional £200m plus investment across the Lyca Group companies, including healthcare, finance, travel, and entertainment businesses.

The MVNO is also introducing a new brand identity, that the company says will reflect a ‘fresh and modern look’, designed by M&C Saatchi.

This new design will be rolled out across the Lyca Group companies and will be supported by a £25 million multi-channel advertising campaign that spans across TV, radio, out of home, digital and in-store activity.

“This investment is testament to our commitment to transform the business and take our services to a wider audience. Covid-19 has expedited the emergence of a new set of consumer mobile behaviours and values,” said Lyca Group CEO Navanit Narayan.

“Customers expect more diverse, differentiated and value-added services – and there’s a real opportunity for us to deliver exactly that as we look to grow our market share in the UK and beyond.

“Our ambition will help us attract new customers and further demonstrate the benefits of partnering with Lyca Mobile to global mobile network operators.”

Competitive

Lyca Mobile has also announced a new price-competitive plan for customers in the UK.

The plan comes with 50GB of data, unlimited calls and texts and 100 international minutes for £12 for 30 days.

Customers are also able to share data with their friends and family and gift part of their allowance to other Lyca Mobile users.

In April, Lyca Group appointed Navanit Narayan as its new CEO.

He joined the business last October from Vodafone Idea, having previously worked for Idea Cellular and Nokia Siemens Networks.

Narayan has revealed that Lyca Group wants to raise more awareness of its offerings beyond the mobile business, acting as a ‘digital player’ across areas including entertainment, travel, healthcare, media, technology, financial services, marketing and hospitality (see Mobile News, April).

But how does mobile still fit into the Lyca Group’s plans, namely its MVNO Lyca Mobile? Mobile News spoke to Narayan to find out more about the company’s plans for its mobile offering.

What is your new role and what does it cover?

Navanit Narayan: I’m chief executive for the Lyca Group. Mobile is the largest part of the business, but we have other interests as well. I look after all the businesses within the Group, including financial services, travel, entertainment and media.

How can you use your earlier experience from Vodafone at Lyca?

I think it’s the scale we can bring, and how we can scale up and replicate our success in other areas of the business – and really how we can bring the service offering to customers. If we are able to bring our businesses together and offer a complete suite of services to our customers, I think we have a far better proposition.

How has Lycamobile been able to adapt to the pandemic?

Obviously the pandemic has been difficult for us, because in most countries there’s been lockdowns where stores are closed. But in some markets, our products are available to buy through multi-brand grocery stores where our customers can pick up a SIM. It feels like we have withstood the worst of the lockdowns across our operations. We’re seeing a bit of growth in some markets such as the US, which has picked up pretty well as vaccinations have rolled out and the economy is picking up. We’ve seen a similar thing here in the UK and expect the same in Europe, but we will of course continue to be cautious with our customers in relation to the pandemic. During the pandemic we’ve been able to focus on our digital marketing, looking a lot more at analytics than ever before – and this has helped us to grow our digital offerings.

What impact has the pandemic had on the business? 

The impact has been that digital adoption for customers has been far better. I think what would have taken a few years before has happened now because of the pandemic.

What challenges have you faced during the pandemic? 

The sad part is that I’ve been here now for a full two quarters and I’ve not been able to visit our different markets, when I used to travel to at least two geographies a week prior to the pandemic. No matter how much we use digital assets to reach out and talk to the team, unless you go out and see for yourself, you won’t understand the market as much. In the pandemic, we’ve had to adapt to using technology such as Teams, but this has been a positive in that we can get people across the globe together virtually to have conversations that weren’t happening before. There has been a lot of learning on how to work in this environment.

How have your operator partners supported Lycamobile?

I think all of our MNO partners, including O2 in the UK, plus Vodafone and Telefonica in other markets, have been very supportive of us during these tough times in terms of product offering and being competitive in the marketplace.

What’s your strategy for Lycamobile’s MVNO business?  

As an MVNO business, we have realised that we were so focused on the ethnic, migrant and expat segments, and we need to go beyond that. What we’re trying to do now is working on the transformation of the business so we have a better play in the national market and create products that are relevant. We want to get ourselves out into distribution and get the brand recognised more widely. We also want to grow into new geographic markets.

When will Lycamobile launch in more countries? 

I’m expecting this year that a few more countries will come on board. We’re in the advanced stages of entering three to four, and I’m confident we’ll be in those markets this year.

Which markets are you looking to enter? 

We’re always looking to expand in Europe, but there’s a big focus on Africa and Latin America, as we’ve mostly not been in these markets. I’m hoping that we can get our first Latin American country on our list this year. The markets are there for us to get into.

How can MVNOs bring innovation to the industry? 

There are a couple of ways we can do this. One is that we can go more digital, and MVNOs that are going digital are the ones that grow because customer profiles are changing to become oriented towards this market. The second way is through our service offerings, with MVNOs having an agile set-up. We have to see how we can create offerings that mean we provide a larger suite of services; we want to give our customers more than just mobility.

Do you have plans to drive 5G in developing countries and new business segments?

We have agreements with our MNO partners that as they launch 5G, we are able to offer the technology to our customers. We’re also looking to get into the enterprise side of 5G. This is something we have not yet done, but we are looking at the opportunities this can bring.

What are Lyca Group’s targets?

We are in 23 countries as an MVNO currently and want to take this number up to 30. We recently got a national telecoms licence in Uganda and we will be investing significant money to compete against the two big players for market share; it’s a very good market because it’s growing. From there, we want to expand into other parts of Africa, which is a continent we feel has a lot of potential.

Lyca Group’s new CEO has revealed that the company is keen to be more than just a mobile business.

Navanit Narayan, who was appointed Lyca Group CEO earlier this month, said the company wants to become a “digital player” that incorporates its range of services for its customers.

Aside from telecoms and its own MVNO, Lyca Mobile, the group offers services in the areas of entertainment, travel, healthcare, media, technology, financial services, marketing and hospitality.

Narayan was previously Lycamobile Group chief operating officer, a role that he started last October. Earlier, he also held positions at Nokia and, more recently, Vodafone Idea.

“The business is going through a transformation right from the target segment to what the customer is looking for and desiring, and it’s our vision that we should become more of a digital player that offers more than just mobile,” he said.

“We really want to cross- leverage the businesses we have built over the last few years and bring them together in a way that enables us to become a one-stop shop for these services that our customers are looking for.”

Still a priority

Mobile is, however, still a big priority for Lyca Group, says Narayan, who acknowledges that the pandemic has had an influence on that part of the business.

Its MVNO arm is currently in 23 countries worldwide, with Narayan eyeing up Africa as the next market for launch.

“We’re trying to launch our MVNO proposition in the African market, as we see some big growth there in the coming years,” he said.

“So far we’re in 23 countries, but we’re looking at new geographies and parts of the world that we’re not yet in.”

Narayan added: “Our traditional market has been people visiting specific locations in various countries, usually as tourists, but understandably this has slowed down due to the pandemic.

“But this has given us time to reinvent ourselves and invest money in technology and platforms to extract much better business in these markets as they open up.”

Lyca Group has announced a new Group CEO as part of its international expansion.

Navanit Narayan has been appointed to the role, a promotion from his position as Lycamobile Group chief operating officer.

Narayan has over 30 years’ experience in supporting the growth of businesses across a variety of sectors, including manufacturing, consulting and IT.

He has previously held roles at Nokia, Idea Cellular and Vodafone Idea before joining Lycamobile last year.

Commenting on his new role, Narayan said: “At a time of global change and uncertainty, placing customers and digital capabilities at the centre of our business will undoubtedly support our growth ambitions.

“We have a tremendous leadership team and key global partners ready to take the business to the next level. I would like to thank them for their support and dedication as I step into my new role as Group CEO.”

Lyca Group chairman Subaskaran Allirajah said: “Since joining the business, he has made an immediate and impressive impact on the Group and the team. As we evolve our brand to reach new market segments; strong leadership and clarity of vision are key to success.”

Lycamobile has announced it has appointed Phil Turner as its Executive Vice President of professional channel sales.

The company says Turner will play a crucial role in supporting Lycamobile’s expansion plans, taking on responsibility for the overall productivity and effectiveness of Lycamobile’s channel sales.

Turner will work with key internal and external stakeholders to enhance existing revenue streams and develop new ones in national markets.

He has over thirty years’ worth of experience and has implemented vital strategies with globally known companies such as Payzone, the Post Office, and Travelex.

Lycamobile COO Navanit Narayan said: “We’re pleased to announce Phil’s appointment as our Executive Vice President of Professional Channel Sales.

“He brings with him not only experience, but an unparalleled knowledge, flair, and expertise for supporting and handling stakeholder relations.”