The deal broadens Onecom’s geographic reach and adds an established customer base.

Gradwell Communications, which reported annual revenue of £10.72 million as of October 2023, specialises in VoIP phone systems, SIP trunking, and connectivity solutions for small to medium-sized businesses. Founded in 1998, one of its main offerings is Wave, a proprietary cloud-based VoIP phone system designed specifically for smaller businesses.

Darren Ridge, CEO of Onecom Group, said: “Gradwell is highly complementary to our growth plans. Both businesses share a strong customer-first culture and a commitment to delivering outcome-driven communication solutions.

“This acquisition enhances our service portfolio and geographic presence, enabling us to offer more comprehensive solutions through our direct sales and partner channels.”

Jamie Ward, CEO of Gradwell, added: “We’re proud of what we’ve built and excited to join forces with Onecom. Our aligned cultures and shared dedication to innovation and customer service create new opportunities to deliver greater value to our customers.”

Hampshire-based Onecom employs over 700 staff and offers services from Vodafone, Zoom, Gamma, and Microsoft. Established in 2002, the company serves 80,000 business customers, managing more than a million services across mobile, fixed-line, broadband, unified communications, and IT solutions.

The 31-year-old (main pic) has a record of 27 wins and two defeats. His wins include the WBC Youth World Title, two WBC International titles, and WBO Global and European titles. He lost one bout to South African fighter Thulani Mbenge.

McKinson said. “Having this support means I can train full time again and focus on what I do best”.

WeBuyAnyPhone.com co-founder Darren Ridge, founder of The Ridge Foundation, said: “As someone who also grew up in Leigh Park, I’m proud that WeBuyAnyPhone.com can support Mikey. The Foundation was set up by Ridge to support projects that help young people from less-privileged backgrounds to learn and thrive.

Aaron Brown, co-owner of WeBuyAnyPhone.com, added: “ He’s someone who truly reflects our values of resilience, honesty, and the drive to succeed. We’re excited to be part of the next chapter in his career.”

McKinson is also sponsored by HSBM Facilities Management.

]]> https://mobilenewscwp.co.uk/news/article/webuyanyphone-com-sponsors-top-welterweight-portsmouth-boxer/feed/ 0 https://mobilenewscwp.co.uk/news/article/onecom-founders-team-bike-ride-raises-30000-havant-academy/ https://mobilenewscwp.co.uk/news/article/onecom-founders-team-bike-ride-raises-30000-havant-academy/#respond Thu, 28 Nov 2024 12:34:58 +0000 https://mncwp.tailrd.cloud/onecom-founders-team-bike-ride-raises-30000-havant-academy/ A team of cyclists led by Onecom, Onestream, and WeBuyAnyPhone.com founder and entrepreneur Darren Ridge has raised over £30,000 in a sponsored bike ride to buy a Cubbie unit space for Havant Academy in Leigh Park. Cubbie units are sensory management systems designed to provide a controlled environment are often used in schools, therapy centres,

A team of cyclists led by Onecom, Onestream, and WeBuyAnyPhone.com founder and entrepreneur Darren Ridge has raised over £30,000 in a sponsored bike ride to buy a Cubbie unit space for Havant Academy in Leigh Park.

Cubbie units are sensory management systems designed to provide a controlled environment are often used in schools, therapy centres, healthcare facilities, and workplaces to help individuals with sensory processing challenges, such as those on the autism spectrum.

The 30-mile round trip from Onecom in Whiteley to Havant Academy was waved of by former Southampton FC player Matt Le Tissier.

Ridge was a pupil at Havant Academy, formerly known as Wakeford Comprehensive School. Many of its students with suffer from social, emotional, and mental health challenges. The new sensory equipment is expected to provide support for these students.

“Visiting my former school reminds me of the immense challenges these students and teachers face daily and their incredible resilience. Thanks to the generosity of our riders and sponsors, we can now provide technology that will make a meaningful difference in these students’ lives.”

Ridge sent up the Ridge Foundation to support Havant Academy

]]> https://mobilenewscwp.co.uk/news/article/onecom-founders-team-bike-ride-raises-30000-havant-academy/feed/ 0 https://mobilenewscwp.co.uk/news/article/onecom-acquires-rival-vodafone-dealer-olive-communications/ https://mobilenewscwp.co.uk/news/article/onecom-acquires-rival-vodafone-dealer-olive-communications/#respond Thu, 11 Feb 2021 15:36:07 +0000 https://mncwp.tailrd.cloud/onecom-acquires-rival-vodafone-dealer-olive-communications/ It’s the third acquisition Onecom has made since LDC investment arrived in 2019

]]> It’s the third acquisition Onecom has made since LDC investment arrived in 2019

Onecom has acquired rival Vodafone dealer Olive Communications, with Olive chief executive Martin Flick (pictured) appointed CEO of Onecom Group.

The move will see Onecom and Olive provide services to more 500,000 corporate and business end users this year, with combined annual turnover of more than £140 million.

Onecom founder Darren Ridge will move into a non-executive director role as a result of the acquisition.

The newly-expanded company will continue to be headquartered in Hampshire.

Since founding the business in 2002, Ridge has developed the business to achieve annual revenue of more than £90m.

The acquisition was supported by private equity firm LDC, which invested over £100m in Onecom in July 2019 to drive business growth and is Onecom’s third acquisition since LDC’s investment.

While growth capital investor BGF, which invested £10m into Olive back in 2016 has exited the business as part of this deal.

Olive growth

High-Wycombe-based Olive has grown organically and through acquisitions, with annual revenue growing to £31m.

The dealer has enjoyed more success since developing services beyond mobile, with a strong focus on cloud propositions.

Commenting on the acquisition Ridge said: “We have seen Olive as healthy competitors for years, and their market reputation for delivering cloud services is unrivalled.

“The inevitable changes to working patterns across the UK and globally as a result of the pandemic have accelerated the need for integrated cloud communications and significantly increased demand for transformation and digitalisation. Bringing these two businesses together will significantly benefit our customers, partners and stakeholders and employees.”

Flick added: “Our combined scale, expertise, experience and proximity to customer need affords us the perfect proposition to help customers of all sizes to navigate their journey through the short and long term economic landscape, leveraging technology from our established and emerging strategic partnerships, including Vodafone, Mitel, Google, Microsoft and others.”

Flick adds that the main objective for this year is for Onecom to help its customers to navigate the pandemic and to provide these businesses with innovative cloud solutions.

Onecom was advised by Goodwin Procter LLP, while George Green Solicitors acted for Olive.

]]> https://mobilenewscwp.co.uk/news/article/onecom-acquires-rival-vodafone-dealer-olive-communications/feed/ 0

Onecom and Carphone Warehouse Business have been named two of the inaugural Elite Partners in Samsung’s new Samsung One partner programme.

The two providers are the first to gain the top-tier status in the new programme, which launched on November 5.

The programme features a variety of training, product information and reward assets to help participating partners drive growth, supported by a dedicated bespoke iOS and Android-compatible app.

The Elite certification is the highest of four statuses that participating partners can aspire to, the others being Advanced, Authorised and Registered.

“For these, we understand there is no one-size-fits-all approach, and therefore we’ve created these four tiers which will cater to specific business needs, depending on their unique goals and growth ambition,” said Samsung director of B2B Joe Walsh.

“Our aim within all these tiers is to provide the support and motivation our partners need to deliver their individual business objectives, whether that’s through the Elite tier, or our Registered partners.”

“Our teams are committed to providing outstanding technical solutions and services to the businesses we work with, and product expertise is at the heart of this,” said Onecom CEO Darren Ridge. “As a long-standing Samsung partner, we are excited to be awarded Elite status and to be the first to enjoy the benefits Samsung One will bring to our people, our business and, ultimately, our customers.

Dixons Carphone B2B director Carlos Pestana added: “As Samsung’s largest mobile and tablet B2B supplier in the UK our Carphone Warehouse Business colleagues are dedicated to providing customers with a detailed understanding of how best to leverage the Samsung ecosystem. We pride ourselves on having expert colleagues that can truly put the customers’ needs first and this collaboration with Samsung further enhances our already extensive colleague training programmes.”

Onecom has retained its crown as Vodafone’s Strategic Partner of the Year for the tenth year running.

The dealer won the Strategic Partner of the Year award for 2020, an award that is contested by Vodafone’s Total Communications Partners.

Metrics such as customer service, sales performance and commercial success are taken into account for this award.

Commenting on the win, Onecom CEO Darren Ridge said: “We are proud to receive this award which underlines not only the strength of Onecom’s relationship with Vodafone, but also the expertise of our teams in delivering innovative, tailored business communications solutions that meet the needs of our customers.

“To have received this award for the 10th year running is testament to the training, commitment and hard work of our sales and solutions teams around the UK.”

Vodafone Business UK head of indirect business Kathy Quashie added: “Onecom have had another incredible year and continue to go from strength to strength.

“They have completely transformed their business to adapt to the new climate, furloughing minimal staff whilst maintaining organic growth through campaign sales to support their customers.”

Onecom founder Darren Ridge has returned to the role of chief executive officer following the departure of Ben Dowd for personal reasons.

Ridge who founded Onecom 18 years ago has been involved in its leadership over the last two years.

Dowd was hired as CEO nearly two years ago to head the business’s ambitious expansion plans to become the UK’s leading independent business communications provider.

He joined from O2 (Telefonica) where he was on the UK’s executive board for 10 years and left the operator after 12 years during which time he served as its UK sales director, business director, business sales director, and general manager business sales.

Ridge hired him to for a three-year mission to develop and implement a strategy to grow the business through organic and inorganic activity and be responsible for Onecom’s day-to-day operations.

Onecom, has headquarters in Whiteley, Hampshire, and claims to be the UK’s largest independent business telecommunications provider, operating from 10 regional offices, including Cardiff, Belfast, Southampton, Plymouth, Leeds, Telford, Norwich and Brighton.

Onecom chief operating officer Aaron Brown has departed the company, CEO Ben Dowd has confirmed.

He followed former CEO Darren Ridge in departing from daily duties with the Hampshire-based dealer in July, though both remain shareholders and Ridge is also a non-executive director.

Brown declined to comment when Mobile News made contact.

He was Onecom COO from 2013 to 2018 and then COO of Onecom Group from November 2018 until July 2019. He is currently COO of door-to-door mobile phone repair company WeFix.

Speaking to Mobile News, Onecom CEO Ben Dowd confirmed Brown’s departure. The company has also recently restructured its executive team as a requirement of gaining a £100 million investment from private equity firm LDC, which is now Onecom’s largest shareholder.

Onecom and Vodafone signed a partnership earlier this year that will be worth up to £600 million in revenue within the next three to five years. Onecom will recruit 100 staff in the next six months to help achieve this, taking its total employees to 400. The firm also secured £30 million from HSBC in April to finance its growth plans, which include acquisitions.

“Darren has done a fantastic job along with Aaron,” said Dowd. “Darren wanted to take a step back from the business and bring someone in who can bring the growth agenda outlined. Now, 12 months on, we have a major backer to help us grow the business threefold in three to five years.

He added: “The business has been restructured and as part of that, we have gained fresh investment in the business. We will recruit 100 more staff over the next six months to support our ambitions.”

The European Union’s scrapping of roaming charges has lowered by around £2.6 million Onecom’s anticipated 2017 profits.

The Hampshire dealer’s recently reported 2017 turnover of £71 million delivered a profit of £15.6 million, down from £18.2 million the year before.

Roaming charges were abolished in June last year, enabling EU citizens to call, text and browse the internet at the same price as they pay at home.

Onecom group CEO Darren Ridge said: “We did not anticipate such a big reduction in roaming revenue, which was the main reason why we did not hit our £100 million turnover target. But we’re immensely proud of the numbers we produce, showing great profitability and good growth overall.”

In 2016, Ridge targeted £100 million in turnover by the end of 2017, 12 months earlier than originally planned.

The target was driven by a mixture of organic growth, the company’s acquisition of Evolve Telecom and the promise of further potential purchases in the mobile, fixed-line and cloud areas.

Last month, the firm penned a five-year contract to be the official telecoms partner of Portsmouth Football Club and appointed former O2 sales director Ben Dowd as CEO. Onecom became an authorised Apple reseller in September.

In July, the company bagged Vodafone’s Total Communications Partner award for 2018. It is Vodafone’s largest dealer, with around 325,000 mobile connections.

Onecom has appointed former O2 group sales director Ben Dowd (pictured) as CEO, while founder and former chief Darren Ridge steps up as group CEO.

Dowd is tasked with day-to-day operations and continuing the dealer’s ambition to reap £100 million in revenue by the end of the year. He reports directly to Ridge.

Dowd spent nearly 22 years with O2 suddenly departed in September 2017 as group sales director under unexplained circumstances. Since 1995, Dowd held various finance and sales roles in O2. He was promoted to the O2 board in 2008 when he secured the role of business sales director, one of his “proudest moments”.

According to Companies House, revenue for Hampshire-based Onecom was at £60 million for 2016 ending December, while gross profits stood at £18 million. Figures for 2017 have yet to be finalised.

Commenting on his new role Dowd said: “Darren’s ambition for the business is completely aligned with mine, and I am excited and energised by the challenge of taking Onecom on a new journey of ambitious growth as it stakes its claim as the UK’s leader in business communications technology.”

Ridge added: “Ben shares my passion for driving Onecom forward and has a formidable track record and reputation in the industry.

“There are significant opportunities for growth ahead, both organically and inorganically. The acceleration of digital infrastructure in 5G and superfast fibre will drive new and enhanced data and digital services including IoT (Internet of Things), all of which will drive enhanced productivity and efficiency benefits for UK businesses.”