BUSINESS PROFILE
A man for all reasons B
reith has ‘loved’ his time in telecoms and if he could start again with a clean sheet he would choose
the same. “I didn’t go straight from being a plumber to telecoms,” stated Breith. “I went from plumber to civil engineering and then running my own sites laying 36 inch gas mains to having a small catering business, selling cars, doing some building works etc. I guess the answer is I was actively working and doing my own thing all the time in one degree or the other, just so happens that telecoms is where I ended up.”
Breith started O-bit in early 2002. “I was used to working in a dealer model with MCI WorldCom,” he recalls. “I liked fixed line but wanted more control and O-bit was born. The initial business plan was to get as much business as I could. All the first products were calls and lines.”
Before the sale of O-bit to Daisy Group Breith’s ambitions were to take the company to £50 million which is where he saw the next level. “Nothing has changed and I am looking to grow O-bit into this in the next few years,” he commented. “We have always believed that our bespoke software and portal, Merlin, have been our greatest strengths and this will continue to grow in the coming years. It is likely that from Q2 onwards next year O-bit will relaunch its VoIP and cloud- based offerings. These will further enhance our services. Our main focus in the coming months will be concentrating on our recent mobile launch and new sub-dealer portal along with growing all other products and services in our portfolio.”
Dave Breith
Dave Breith, CEO of O-bit Telecom, is a serial telecoms entrepreneur but he began his working life making connections of a very different kind as a plumber.
50 COMMS DEALER DECEMBER 2011
Breith is used to running businesses and has been through some great and bad times, so previous experiences have made him quite resilient for the challenges and opportunities within the business. “There are always ‘good lucks’ along the way in the business, however I would like to think that if you are active and hard working then you are creating your own luck,”
he added. “I attribute much of O- bit’s success to sheer hard work and determination. Each year we have managed to create something good. The biggest milestones have been launching an indirect channel, a significant government contract, the build and deployment of Merlin, and now we enter a whole new world under Daisy.”
While focused on the future opportunities Breith also keeps one eye firmly fixed on the upcoming challenges. He explained: “The challenges over the next few years include interconnect pricing with especially mobile calls, along with an ever increasing more competitive data market. We are all in the same boat so the strongest are the only ones likely to survive.”
Just a minute with Dave Breith...
What talent do you wish you had? I have always wanted to play the piano.
How would you like to be remembered? As the most popular figure in the telecoms channel.
What possession could you not live without? My Aston Martin.
Name one thing you could not live without in your job? Double computer screens which enable me to do multiple things at once.
Give one example of something you have overcome? Getting used to the cold weather which you would think comes naturally to me being half Eskimo.
Name three ideal dinner guests and why you’d invite them? Michael McIntyre, he’s enormously funny without being crude and swearing. David Cameron: We can talk more sensibly early in the evening and Michael and I can take the mickey out of him later on after a few drinks. Simon Cowell: Michael, David and I can flick dough balls at him.
Who was the last person to thank you and why? My sister and brother-in-law as I bought them a new car.
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www.comms-dealer.com
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