ONECOM APPOINTS BEN DOWD AS CEO TO DRIVE GROWTH STRATEGY

Onecom appoints Ben Dowd as CEO to drive growth strategy

Onecom today announces the appointment of Ben Dowd as CEO to drive the business’s ambitious expansion plans as it builds on its position as the UK’s leading independent business communications provider.

Darren Ridge, who founded Onecom and has overseen its rapid growth to a business on target for annual turnover of £100 million, will continue to take an active and strategic executive role on the board as Group CEO.

Ben brings more than 20 years of telecoms industry experience and was previously a member of O2 (Telefonica) UK’s executive board for 10 years. He will report directly to Darren and will be responsible for developing and implementing a strategy to grow the business significantly through organic and inorganic means over the next three years. He will also be responsible for Onecom’s day-to-day operations.

Commenting on the appointment, Darren said:

“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. Onecom is ideally positioned to exploit this opportunity.

“In addition, the channel for fixed and mobile services continues to consolidate. Given Onecom’s size and ambition, the opportunity now exists for Onecom to take advantage of this.

“Ben is a hugely respected leader who will bring additional insight and strength to the senior team at Onecom, and I am delighted to welcome him.

“Ben’s two decades of experience include his most recent role at O2, where he was responsible for all of the company’s direct and indirect consumer and business distribution routes to market. He was instrumental in building O2’s unified communications and digital services businesses, and in creating its public sector business.”

Ben said:

“I have known Darren for many years and have always respected the way he has achieved success with Onecom through partnerships and acquisitions while always putting customer experience at the heart of everything the business does.

“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.”

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

The company currently manages nearly 100,000 business customers, delivering communication services and unified solutions across fixed line voice, connectivity and cloud computing to some of the UK’s most dynamic companies.

For more information see www.onecom.co.uk