Mnet plans to Adapt to VNO area
Name change marks start of aggressive growth strategy
Mnet has set out ambitious plans to become one of the UK’s largest virtual network operators (VNOs) after changing its name to Adapt.
Following a management buy-out (MBO) from parent Margolis last year, the firm intends to pursue an aggressive growth strategy, which could include acquisitions in the adjacent systems integration (SI) arena.
Peter Knight, chief executive at Adapt, said: “We will see some consolidation between the WAN and SI space and Adapt will certainly be an acquirer rather than the other way around.
“I see us moving steadily into the SI market in the same way Matrix [Communications] moved into the WAN space.”
Knight claimed Adapt had enjoyed year-on-year growth of 50 per cent for the past three years, but was now aiming for more rapid expansion. “We feel we can accelerate now that we have completed our MBO and name change,” he said.
Knight claimed that demand for a VNO delivery model is continuing to snowball.
“For too long customers have accepted that the telecoms firm dictates what to buy, how to buy and when to buy,” he added. “We pit them against each other and select the best services for customers. And on top of that, once it’s bought, we can negotiate service level agree-ments to ensure that the telecoms provider performs.”
Knight said Adapt competes against several larger rivals, including Vanco and VAR Azzurri, which recently acquired VNO Sirocom.
Simon Rogan, regional managing director at Azzurri and Sirocom founder, said: “A couple of years ago there were not a great deal of traditional networking resellers supplying bandwidth. Now customers are looking for an end-to-end managed service and that has to include a variety of different wires in the ground, which means they have to offer a VNO model.”