Hellawell joining Gamma board

Former Softcat boss Martin Hellawell is taking up a position as chair and non-executive director of Gamma Communications from the start of July.

He is stepping into the position replacing Richard Last, who will step down from the board at the same time, ending a nine-year stint spell as chair.

Hellawell is well-known across the channel because of his involvement and leadership at Softcat. He will be stepping down from his position as non-executive chair at his old employer at the end of July. Hellawell also holds positions as non-executive chair at Raspberry Pi and the same position at musicMagpie, along with a non-executive director position at Team17.

Last said that the business had achieved a lot during his time as chair and it was in a position to grow further by tapping into the experience of Hellawell.

“Gamma has achieved a huge amount since 2014 when it went public, with a market cap of £165m. Today, the business is valued at over £1.1bn with operations across Europe and further exciting opportunities ahead,” he said.

“I’ve enjoyed every moment working with the fantastic team at Gamma and wish them every success going forward. I’ve no doubt that Martin will provide remarkable leadership as he takes Gamma on the next stage of its growth.”

Hellawell indicated that he was keen to help drive the business forward and bring his experience to bear in the chair position: “It is a business that I have admired for some time – having established itself as a market leader with outstanding client relationships and a strong product portfolio. There are some exciting opportunities and I am looking forward to working with the board and management to help Gamma capitalise on those in the times ahead.”

Earlier this week, Gamma announced that it had formed a strategic partnership with AQA Telecom to deliver mobile virtual network aggregator (MVNA) services.

Gamma has identified the MVNO sector as an area for growth and has chosen to combine its mobile technology portfolio with a player that has already established a footprint in the market.

Mike Mills, director of cloud and infrastructure partners at Gamma, said that AQA had the expertise in working with mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) and the relationship would accelerate its market position.

“Whilst we’ve been in this space for nearly 15 years, I feel that this sort of partnership can really accelerate our aggressive growth strategy with mobile. We believe that as mobile technology evolves, an enormous market opportunity exists in the UK, which is historically under-served by MVNOs, and we intend to take advantage of that together,” he said.

Over at AQA Telecom, its CEO Renato Andre de Andrade Reis said that Gamma had a stake in technology areas that would bolster the proposition.

“One of the most exciting aspects of this partnership, for me, is the broad scope of capability that Gamma offers – which includes virtual mobile, SIM, and eSIM technologies, underpinned with an extensive set of commercial tariffs and options – topped off with Gamma’s scale and pedigree,” he said.