A Spokesperson from Vodafone would only confirm to Comms Business Magazine however that they had purchased Central Telecom and that the deal was ‘part of a larger strategy that would be announced later’. No elaboration as to what that strategy might be was forthcoming.
Sources close to Comms Business Magazine have revealed that this new strategy will see Vodafone sell Nortel BCM 50 PBX systems. In other parts of EMEA Vodafone is already selling the mini PBX manufactured by Lake, now a part of the Mitel portfolio.
In recent time Vodafone has been recruiting key personnel to lead the charge in to this market. Tony Bailey and Peter Kelly from Nortel and former BT executive Tom Craig have all joined the company. Kelly was the former head of EMEA sales at Nortel and is well versed in the development in PBX and professional services sales development.
One source told us, “Vodafone bought Central Telecom because they have the skill sets and experience of dealing with and managing SME’s with a wide variety of comms products.”
Comms Business believes that the new group will be relocated from their present Newbury, Berkshire location to premised in London near Paddington.