We’ve come a long way since co-founders James Murray and Chris Wilson set up Alternative Networks in 1994 with just £9,000. They set out to take advantage of the telecoms market deregulation to create a business that offered an alternative to the old incumbent operator.
They created a company culture of determination and drive where anyone can succeed. The company has grown rapidly over the past 13 years and now employs over 430 people across four UK offices in London, Reading, Manchester and Leeds.
Some of the highlights include:
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 |