 | A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject.(February 2014) |
Charles Wigoder (born 2 March 1960) is an English telecommunications entrepreneur, associated with building both Peoples Phone and Telecom Plus (The Utility Warehouse) into substantial and successful businesses.
The son of The Right Honourable Lord Wigoder, QC PC [1] (his children are entitled to use The Honourable title), Wigoder studied accountancy and law at University of Kent.
Wigoder qualified as a chartered accountant with KPMG in 1984 and was subsequently employed by Kleinwort Securities as an investment analyst in the media and communication sectors, where he met Michael Green. Green later hired Wigoder in 1985 as head of corporate finance and development at television services company Carlton Communications, to accelerate the growth of the organisation; whilst he was there, turnover grew from under £5m to over £200m. He subsequently moved to Sangers Photographic, a USM listed wholesaler of photographic equipment, where he was responsible for rebranding the business as Quadrant Group. He took the business to a full stock market listing, and expanded its activities to encompass three separate divisions covering photographic, video and communications services.
Wigoder left Quadrant to set up Cellular Communications Corporation plc in March 1988, initially providing a mobile phone service to business customers through both a direct sales team and third party distributors. He recognised how consumers had the potential to transform the market, successfully positioning his company to take advantage of this opportunity by creating the Peoples Phone brand as the world's first virtual mobile network. To support this new type of customer, he established his own national High Street retail presence by opening more than 180 showrooms throughout the UK in just 12 months (a distribution model subsequently imitated by all the network operators), gaining around 10% of the UK market. Within four years he had built a market-leading position, having overtaken all the other independent resellers who had started several years prior to his entry into the market. The business was highly cash generative, but a decision to write off all customer acquisition costs directly against profits meant that the company reported a loss after taxation of £10.6m on turnover of £175m for the financial year ended 31 October 1995.[ citation needed ]
Following a disagreement between the major shareholders on the future strategy for the company, it was acquired by Vodafone in November 1996 for £77m; [2] however, Wigoder only collected £6.5M from the deal, as most of the company was owned by venture capital investors. Vodafone followed this deal with further acquisitions within the sector (namely Astec and Talkland in December 1996) giving it greater control over the customers using its network. According to Vodafone's 1997 annual report and accounts, Peoples Phone made £4.1m in the period to end of 1996.
Wigoder joined Telecom Plus shortly after its formation in 1998, investing heavily and listing it on the London Stock Exchange.
Wigoder believed there was a significant opportunity to build a business supplying communications and energy services to the mass residential market, in competition with the former monopoly providers of such services, as de-regulation progressively opened up these sectors. It was clear to him that a low-cost route to market would prove to be a critical element in any successful business model, and he therefore invested in Telecom Plus plc, which had an established network marketing system of agents across the United Kingdom to promote their services. Since 1998, the company has gained more than 600,000 domestic and small-business customers [3] through combining better value with consistently high standards of customer service. [4] Trading as Utility Warehouse, Telecom Plus is a "virtual" retailer, with no shops and no advertising, supported by a sophisticated head office infrastructure with more than 1000 staff (most of whom are employed to support their customers). By 2013, the business had over 37,000 independent distributors. [3]
In 2001, Wigoder was the winner of the Communications category in the London section of the UK "Entrepreneur of the Year" awards sponsored by Ernst & Young, Citibank and the Times, [5] and in 2009, he collected the award for Company of the Year at the Quoted Company Awards on behalf of Telecom Plus plc. [6]
In July 2022, Wigoder moved to a non-executive role with Telecom Plus. [7]
Wigoder is married to Elizabeth, and the couple have a son and three daughters. [8] Wigoder is an expert bridge player who won the prestigious Cavendish Invitational Teams in 2004.[ citation needed ]
Wigoder has supported the Conservative Party and gave a direct donation to Liam Fox in his 2005 leadership bid to replace Michael Howard, running against David Cameron [9] [ citation needed ] He later lent the Conservatives £100,000 as a beneficial loan, as outlined in the 31 March 2006 statement by party chairman Francis Maude. [10] [11] . The Financial Times reported that a company linked to him donated £100,000 to the Conservative Party's 2024 UK general election campaign. [12]
In the summer of 2013, Wigoder donated £1 million to the Kent Law Campaign to help build a new home for the University of Kent's Kent Law Clinic. This has been named the Wigoder Law Building. [13]
Demon Internet was a British Internet service provider, initially an independent business, later operating as a brand of Vodafone. It was one of the UK's earliest ISPs, offering dial-up Internet access services from 1 June 1992. According to the Daily Telegraph, it "sparked a revolution by becoming the first to provide genuinely affordable access to the internet in the UK".
Eircom Limited, trading as Eir, is a large fixed, mobile and broadband telecommunications company in Ireland. The company, which is currently incorporated in Jersey, traces its origins to the Ireland's former state-owned monopoly telecommunication provider Telecom Éireann and its predecessors, P&T and before the foundation of the state, the telecommunications division of the GPO. It remains the largest telecommunications operator in Ireland and has overseas operations focused on the business and corporate telecom markets in the United Kingdom. The company was in majority state ownership until 1999, when it was privatised through a floatation on the Irish and New York Stock Exchanges.
Telecom Éireann was an Irish state-owned telecommunications company that operated from 1983 to 1999. Prior to then a telephone and postal service was provided by the Department of Posts and Telegraphs, as part of the civil service. Telecom Éireann was established by the Postal and Telecommunications Services Act, 1983; its full formal title was "Bord Telecom Éireann or, in the English language, The Irish Telecommunications Board". "Telecom Éireann" may be translated as "Telecom of Ireland". In 1999, the company was privatised and renamed as eircom.
Vodafone Group is a British multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates services in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania.
Swisscom AG is a major telecommunications provider in Switzerland. Its headquarters are located in Worblaufen near Bern. The Swiss government owns 51 percent of Swisscom. According to its own published data, Swisscom holds a market share of 56% for mobile, 50% for broadband and 37% for TV telecommunication in Switzerland. Its Italian subsidiary FASTWEB is attributed 16% of private clients and 29% of corporate clients share of Italian broadband and is also active in the mobile market.
Virgin Mobile is a wireless communications brand used by seven independent brand-licensees worldwide. Virgin Mobile branded wireless communications services are available in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Colombia, Chile, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Poland and Mexico. Virgin Mobile branded services used to be offered in Australia, France, Singapore, India, Qatar, South Africa and the United States.
Racal Electronics plc was a British electronics company that was founded in 1950.
Vodafone Ireland Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Vodafone Group, is a mobile phone network and broadband provider in Ireland. It was created when the Vodafone Group bought Eircell, the mobile arm of Telecom Éireann. As of September 2019, Vodafone has 26% of broadband subscribers, and 43% of mobile phone subscribers.
Telefónica Ireland was a broadband and telecommunications provider in Ireland that traded under the O2 brand (typeset as O2). O2 Ireland was previously called Esat Digifone when it was owned by Esat Telecommunications (and Telenor) from 1997 to 2006.
BT Communications (Ireland) Limited is a telecommunications and internet company in Ireland. It is a subsidiary of BT Group plc.
Cable & Wireless plc was a British telecommunications company. In the mid-1980s, it became the first company in the UK to offer an alternative telephone service to British Telecom. The company later offered cable TV to its customers, but it sold its cable assets to NTL in 2000. It remained a significant player in the UK telecoms market and in certain overseas markets, especially in the former British colonies of the Caribbean, where it was formerly the monopoly incumbent. It was also the main supplier of communication in the British South Atlantic, including Saint Helena and the Falkland Islands. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
Carphone Warehouse is a mobile phone retailer based in London, United Kingdom. In August 2014 the company became a subsidiary of Currys plc, which was formed by the merger of its former parent Carphone Warehouse Group with Dixons Retail. Prior to this merger, Carphone Warehouse Group was listed on the London Stock Exchange, and was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. Following the closure of all stand-alone UK stores in April 2020, all remaining Carphone Warehouse UK outlets were within branches of Currys PC World. In April 2021, the Carphone Warehouse business in Ireland was closed with immediate effect. Currys continued to use the Carphone Warehouse brand in the United Kingdom, online and, until 2021, inside Currys stores.
The Orange brand in India, through a complicated set of mergers and divisions, was acquired and eventually retained by Orange S.A.; and currently operates as Orange Business Services India.
Orange Business, the business services arm of Orange S.A., is a global integrator of communications, products, and services for multinational corporations.
Safaricom PLC is a listed Kenyan mobile network operator headquartered at Safaricom House in Nairobi, Kenya. It is the largest telecommunications provider in Kenya, and one of the most profitable companies in the East and Central Africa region. The company offers mobile telephony, mobile money transfer, consumer electronics, ecommerce, cloud computing, data, music streaming, and fibre optic services. It is most renowned as the home of M-PESA, a mobile banking SMS-based service.
Npower Limited was a British supplier of gas and electricity to businesses. It has been a subsidiary of E.ON UK since January 2019. The company was formerly known as Innogy plc and was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
Sir Charles William Dunstone is the British co-founder and former chairman of mobile phone retailer Carphone Warehouse, former chairman of multinational electrical and telecommunications retailer and services company Dixons Carphone, and executive chairman of the TalkTalk Group.
Telecom Plus plc is a British multi-utility supplier of gas, electricity, home insurance, and landline, broadband and mobile services to residences and businesses. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
Utility Warehouse is a multiservice provider based in London, England that uses multi-level marketing to obtain customers through independent distributors. It is a brand name of its parent company, Telecom Plus. It currently handles approximately 1 million customer accounts. Utility Warehouse supplies customers with landline telephony, mobile telephony, broadband, gas, and electricity. The Utility Warehouse brand is the primary engine of revenue generation for Telecom Plus.
LIME, an acronym for 'Landline, Internet, Mobile, Entertainment', was a communications provider owned by the British based Cable & Wireless Communications for its operations in Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines and Turks & Caicos in the Caribbean.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)