Alternative Networks has come a long way since James Murray and Chris Wilson founded the company in 1994 with a loan of just £9,000.
Initially focusing on systems solutions, they set out to take advantage of the telecoms market deregulation to create a business that offered an alternative to the old incumbent operator. And they succeeded. The business quickly grew, and in a matter of years had expanded into Inbound, Outbound and Data areas.
The Manchester office was established in 2000, with the Leeds site opening a year afterwards. These are now joined by a site in Reading.
The Alternative Networks story is one based on a company culture of determination and drive where anyone can succeed.
Here are some of the highlights
1994 |
Formed with £9,000 of initial investment
Systems solutions |
1996 |
Inbound reseller |
1998 |
Outbound agreements in place |
2000 |
Became a data reseller
Opened office in Manchester |
2001 |
Leeds office opened |
2002 |
Became a mobile service provider for O2 and Vodafone |
2004 |
Acquired 1,000 London business mobile subscribers |
2005 |
Acquired 1,300 small business customers in the Birmingham area |
Feb 2005 |
Admitted to AIM at 100p, raising £12.7m and net new cash for the business was £3.3m |
Oct 2005 |
Acquisition of ICB, a fixed line and mobile services reseller |
Dec 2006 |
Service provider contract renewed with Vodafone until 2009 |
Mar 2007 |
Service provider contract renewed with O2 until 2009 |
Aug 2007 |
Acquisition of Echo Communications, a leading data and systems integrator |
| Jun 2008 |
Winner of two Comms Business Awards, including Overall Reseller of the Year |
| Jul 2008 |
Alternative Networks and Morphy Richards celebrate a decade in partnership |
| Dec 2008 |
Alternative Networks' turnover exceeds £90m |
| Jul 2009 |
Service provider contract renewed with O2 and Vodafone until 2011 |
| Nov 2009 |
Acquisition of Aurora Kendrick James Limited, one of the UK's leading suppliers of billing software and telecoms expense management solutions. |
