Underwood-Lea declared bankrupt
Former Fone Solutions director and wife registered bankrupt on July 31
Dealers
August 8, 2012
Evolve Telecom’s purchase of The Word see’s the Welsh-based dealer’s founder and CEO exit the industry
The Word founder and CEO Huw Stiley has left the company and the industry after 27 years following its sale to fellow Vodafone platinum partner Evolve Telecom last month.
Stiley (pictured) set up the Cardiff-based company in 1985. He was operations director for more than 17 years and in January 2002 became CEO.
He led The Word to become one of 23 dealers – and the only one in Wales – to be awarded platinum partner status when Vodafone revamped its indirect channel structure in September 2010, rebranding Yes Telecom as Vodafone Partner Services (VPS).
In his time at the company, The Word also signed partnerships with Microsoft, BT Openreach, Sage, Mitel and Opal.
Evolve Telecom acquired The Word for an undisclosed fee last month. The purchase saw 15,000 Vodafone connections and 600 customers added to Evolve’s base, making it the second largest B2B dealer in the UK with 60,000 numbers across almost 3,000 customers.
Evolve Telecom managing director Mark Gordon has taken over from Stiley in the daily running of the business as a result of the acquisition.