Gamma acknowledges that it is unfortunate that Cable & Wireless is having difficulties, but states that this individual company’s experience does not reflect the general state of the industry. As the UK’s fastest growing alternative network, Gamma is evidence that there are a great number of very successful businesses operating within the telecoms market and these include Cable & Wireless’ own channel partners.
Cable & Wireless feels that its current business model of selling to smaller companies does not work, and consequently it is dropping 27,000 of its smaller customers. Richard Bligh, Marketing Director for Gamma Telecom, comments: “Selling to SMEs through the channel can be an excellent business model if due attention is paid to the unique needs of this segment of the market. Gamma is thriving proof of that and we have no plans to change our strategy of selling exclusively through channel partners to the SME end-user. It is unfortunate that Cable & Wireless could not make the model work, but that does not mean it cannot be done.”
Bligh continues: “there is no doubt that this is a challenging time for the telecoms market, as we experience the greatest rate of change the industry has ever seen. This means that we, as an industry, need to bend with the changes to find innovative solutions, whilst working closely with our channel partners (and our staff!) to bring a sense of stability to our market and calm the waters stirred up by Cable & Wireless.”