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IN THE NEWS
PG14
Avaya boosts partners’ marketing skills with new initiative
PLUMB LINES
PG18
O2’s Head of SME Sales, David Plumb, kicks off his monthly blog
Comms
VOL 14 ISSUE 11 APRIL 2010
PRINCE’S TRUST
PG48
Dealer charity partner event rewards successes
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RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW: CN AWARDS OPEN FOR ENTRIES!
THERE’S no time to waste to enter the channel’s most prized and prestigious awards event – The Comms National Awards. There is still seven months to go until the Awards dinner on
October 14th at London’s Hilton Park Lane, but entries close on July 16th and the judges will determine this year’s winners on July 22nd, so now is the time to REGISTER as an Award entrant and start put-
ting your submission together (visit www.cnawards.com). Joining the line up of Award sponsors last month were Samsung and Outsourcery. Wilf Wood, Samsung’s Head of Sales
Engineering, said: “Samsung is sponsoring the Vertical Markets award category as it is in tune with our philosophy and direction.” Mark Seemann, Product Stra- tegy & Development Director at
Controversy over line tax
BUDGET REPORT
CHANNEL golfers got into the swing of enjoying a round with sporting celebrities at the Sparks Annual Golf Dinner held in London last month. It was all part of the build up to the Sir Trevor Brooking/Comms Dealer Celebrity Golf Day which will take place at Batchworth Park Golf Club on July 23rd in aid of the Sparks Children’s Charity (see page 51). Picture shows left to right top row: Pat Botting, Freedom Communications; former England football star Sir Trevor Brooking; Andy Hollingworth, Opal; former England cricketer Gladstone Small; Stewart Chappell, The Cumberland Hotel. Bottom row: James Emm, Oak Telecom; Warren Rumsey, Tempus Travel; former England cricketer Darren Gough; Nigel Sergent, Comms Dealer.
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Summer set for ‘Margin’ event
Call: 0845 241 1000
info@tmsols.co.uk
www.tmsols.co.uk
MARGIN in Voice & Data, to be held at the Marriott St Pierre Hotel and Conference Centre in Chepstow, June 16th, is the ‘must attend’ event of the summer and now’s the time to register to attend. FREE OF CHARGE to approved directors of voice and data reseller organisations, delegate packages include overnight accommodation.
www.margin-in-voice-data.com
LAST month’s budget (March 24th) saw the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, con- firm plans to introduce a 50p levy on landlines from October 1st. According to Darling, the 50p monthly landline duty will unlock private investment and enable 90% of the country to access the next generation of super-fast broadband by 2017. But many in the industry have voiced their opposition to the charge, most notably Manchester- based TalkTalk. Its Director of Strategy and
Regulation, Andrew Heaney, said: “When you’re trying to get new investment and development out
there, the first thing you rely on is the market, not public subsidy.” Jacqui Brookes, CEO of the
Federation of Communications Services, believes the Government’s plans don’t go far enough. She commented: “The Govern- ment should have included a fund from mobile users. Then there might be enough funds to invest in more infrastructure.”
The charge was first proposed
in the Digital Britain white paper, published in June 2009. Other controversial recommen- dations, including shifting the bur- den of copyright protection onto ISPs, are contained in the Digital Economy Bill, which is awaiting a second reading.
SpiriTel acquires Nessco
SPIRITEL has extended engineer- ing reach into Scotland with the £1.2m acquisition of Nessco. In the year ended 31 March 2009 the acquired operations gen- erated revenues of £3.2m. Based in Bellshill near Glasgow, Nessco provides IP Telephony solu-
tions and networking services to approximately 800 customers. Alastair Mills, Chief Exec’ of
SpiriTel, said: “The deal is stra- tegically important to the Group, enabling us to offer nationwide engineering coverage to our growing base of 4,000 business customers.”
Outsourcery, added: “Outsourcery is sponsoring the Connectivity cat- egory as we like to recognise and support innovation and the devel- opment of connectivity solutions.”
Awards preview – page 25
What a result! Gamma gets record profi ts
GAMMA Telecom has trounced the recession with record gross profits for 2009, up from £32m to £33.4m. In its 2009 financial results Gamma declared a profit (before interest and tax) of £2.6m and an EBITDA of £6.5m, the highest since it was founded. Positive cash inflow before financing of £4.1m reduced the net debt from £5.7m to £1.6m, putting Gamma on course to be debt free by Q3 2010. Bob Falconer, CEO, said: “The
Gamma business is in great shape. We have been impressed by the strength and durability of the chan- nel during a tough year.”
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