CEO INTERVIEW

You’ve got a very varied background, most recently, with

Lumo Trains. What shaped your career to be where you are today?

I spent much of my early career in telecommunications, five years at Vodafone and three years at 02. Most of my background is technology, marketing and sales, customer services, CRM systems, things like that. I was lucky enough to be at the start of what was the digital revolution, and it was fabulous. I learned so much from some really clever people. And what I found was that I had a skill as a marketeer and a salesperson, so it was basically about transformation. I tend to focus on things that either need repair, or they’re really new ideas that need to be brought out of their shell. So, I’ve done some really interesting projects. Lumo is a good example, where First Group asked me to set up and launch a new electrified train company on the East Coast, and the first sustainable railway in the UK. We did that during lockdown. That’s a pretty typical Helen type of project - let’s be a challenger brand, let’s do this differently, let’s be the people’s choice. What I tend to do is look at that whole customer champion piece, new technologies, fresh thinking. That’s what I like doing, because it’s bringing people together.

You like a challenge?

I love a challenge. And nowadays I don’t do fix-its, I only do builds, which is a career choice because it’s a really positive thing to do. You get to a stage in your career when you want to put something back in. It gives me the opportunity to create jobs and create opportunities so that all our stakeholders, whether it’s colleagues, customers, partners, suppliers or shareholders, love what we do and see the value that we create for everyone.

Which is what you are doing now at Wildanet. How long has Wildanet been going?

The business was founded in 2017 and at

Helen

Wylde

Access to fast broadband has become a vital tool for a business’ success, but rural areas like

Cornwall have their inherent challenges. We meet Helen Wylde, the recently appointed chief executive of the rapidly-expanding Cornwall-based provider Wildanet.

the end of 2020 we secured £50m of private investment to build our network, which has put us in a really strong position. The founders’ vision is very much about making sure nobody gets left behind by the digital revolution. And one of the most compelling statistics from research we’ve done recently is that for every pound you spend on digital inclusion in Cornwall, you will get £15 back. Because without decent, affordable internet people can’t look for jobs, they can’t bank, they can’t access public services. And 44% of Cornwall does not have the right speed or even coverage to be able to do that right now. There’s still a lot to be done despite what some people may have been led to believe about the coverage and speeds currently available.

When the pandemic first hit, everyone had to suddenly work from home. Did that lead to a sudden uptake in demand?

It did and it crystallised people’s thinking because I think up until then many people thought, ‘I don’t stream so why do I need fast broadband?’

People realised they could have much more flexibility about lifestyle - it changed the way they communicated. I don’t know about you, but during lockdown I was doing quizzes on Zoom with generations of our family, once we had taught everyone how to use it! People found new ways to communicate, and still are. It certainly had the impact of demonstrating the need and application of technology in our everyday lives. And with the levelling up agenda, it’s a big part of what we and the Government are trying to achieve. Yes, you can build lots of roads and do other things, or you could get everyone connected at a reasonable speed, so that they can harness the power and potential of technology, whether that’s working from home, running their business or helping to tackle rural isolation. And that might drive something of a revolution for people like ourselves, who live and love life here in Cornwall and the south west, so that you can work from here in a sustainable way. It’s why Wildanet’s strapline is ‘From anywhere to everywhere’, because technology creates new opportunities.

Is it now generally accepted that fast broadband is like any other utility and it’s a right rather than a luxury?

Yes but I don’t think we’re quite there yet. And I think people are still too accepting of a shoddy service. Every community and every individual should demand decent broadband coverage. It future proofs the economy, socially and economically. And the sooner we have gigabit capability available to everybody, the better.

But do people really need that sort of speed?

Maybe not everyone right now, but some definitely do. And the profile will change with time. If you’re streaming, or if you’re gaming, and if you’ve got two children in the house doing that while you’re trying to work, you might want it. And if you look at how healthcare is changing for instance, increasingly many medical professionals are offering remote diagnosis. There is a growing area of innovation which remotely monitors the health of individuals at home and that will require broadband connectivity to work. It will make it easier and safer for people to remain longer in their own homes. Another example is online shopping which increasingly reduces the need to travel and provides rural communities with more choice in some areas of purchasing. In all these cases, both speed and reliability make a big difference. And we’re not going to do less online in the future, we’ll be doing more, so it’s about making sure we’re ready.

What’s the picture like in Cornwall? Is there still a long way to go? So how are you trying to improve these hard-to-reach areas?

We’re using a blend of technologies to provide customers with the best solution we can to meet their particular needs. We started with wireless broadband, which includes things like 4G and other technologies to give people a better signal, and we’ve more or less got coverage across the whole of Cornwall with our wireless networks. And we’re investing tens of millions of pounds in our fibre rollout, which is working at speed on multiple sites. We’ve been putting fibre in for

Just be nearly a year and that’s going really well for us, the best you with a lot of interest from communities. By can be the end of this year, we should have covered a lot of places which don’t currently have fibre.

About 56% of the population have got enough to do what they need to do in terms of speed and coverage. But that leaves 44% of the population who definitely haven’t.

What sort of speed is acceptable at the moment?

That’s a really interesting question, because it depends on who you are. Maybe 12, 15, or 20 megabits is ok if you’re doing nothing more than your emails. Anything more than that, or if there’s more than one of you in the house, you’re going to need to go higher. The cut-off point is probably around 60 megabits right now. So, it’s a long way off from where it should be. And it’s the 44% who have not got sufficient speed, or no coverage at all, who are going to get left behind. Our main objective is to have a built backhaul network so we can go anywhere we want to in Cornwall. Right now we’re tackling the places that need us the most. So we’ve completed our fibre rollout in Dobwalls and Liskeard, Callington is just completing, and we’re halfway through doing Torpoint. Then we’ll move to the north of Cornwall and start working at multiple sites over the next quarter or so.

Our message is no one gets left behind. Rather than somebody worrying about how many bits they need, we’ll have the conversation with them and work out what’s best for them. If it’s quicker to get them onto wireless than wait for a fibre install, we’ll do it. And the real difference between us and everybody else is we really are hyperlocal. Rather than saying, “we’re just going to fill in Acacia Avenue”, we’re trying to say “right, what do we need to do for the community and how do we make this all work?” It’s a real hyperlocal approach.

We are now moving eastwards into Devon because although there is a lot more competition, rural areas are still underserved. Just like in Cornwall, we see the same pattern emerging in Devon where people are getting left behind. We’ll always be Cornish, but we don’t really have any brakes on where we can go in providing quality broadband capability for rural communities in the south west.

Is that one of the main differences between you and, BT, for example, being local?

Yes. What people don’t realise is that not all broadband is the same. When you come to install broadband in a rural area, you’ve really got to stop and think about what you’re doing. You may be in a situation where you have to go over a lot of land to one property, and it might be a listed building. You’ve probably got some granite in there somewhere. The whole landscape could be covered in trees and hills, so you’ve got to think about how you get the signal across. Every time you do a rural install, it’s not a case of simply rocking up and digging a hole like you would in a big conurbation. You’ve got all these considerations that you need to think about. So it’s understandable why the big players go for the easy bits and then back out. If you are sitting on the peripherals of a market town, or in a village, or in a rural area, you are probably not top of the list to get done as your area isn’t easy to do. At Wildanet we use a series of vouchers and grants provided by the Government where appropriate to do areas that are more rural and harder to deliver. These schemes are vital in achieving good coverage with high speeds.

The second thing is, we really drill down to the details to make it work; we know what we’re doing, we’re experts in this field. And the third thing is that we all live locally, so we’re passionate about what we’re doing. I grew up in the south west and one of the things which still upsets me is that I went away to university and didn’t come back because there were no jobs. I can see huge improvements, but we can do so much more with good broadband coverage. There’s so much more opportunity and the technology will unlock that for the next generation. If we can unlock it, people don’t have to leave where they call home to look for work unless they want to go and have an adventure or move away for other reasons. It will be better for the economy, more balanced socially, bring in more money, and create more jobs.

How’s the business been scaling up in the last few years? How many people do you employ now? Are there similar companies to Wildanet in other rural areas across the UK?

There are about 40 alt nets, alternative network providers, in the UK and about 10 of us are focusing on rural areas. What’s interesting though is you can’t treat all rural the same. We’re really good at coastal rural, which can be really tricky and I think is the hardest one to do - although I’m sure the Scots would tell you mountain rural is even worse! So there are specialisms, and having been founded in a coastal area we play to our strengths just as other alt nets play to theirs. And between us we are determined to finish off the last 20% of the UK which has not got coverage currently.

We’re just under 100 people now, and for every job we create, there’s between two and four additional jobs being created in the local economy. We’ve got to the stage now where we want to train our own people so this summer we are launching a training academy, which will allow us to train engineers the way we want them, which is multi-skilled. We also want them to have great social skills and a good understanding of health and safety so that they fully represent Wildanet as a brand to our customers. We’ve been really lucky with our engineers, they’re absolutely great, and we want to recruit and train many more. We are keen supporters of schemes that encourage and promote apprenticeships, and we want to offer as many of those as we can. So by the end of the year, we’ll be near 140 people. We’ve also been renovating Westbourne House in the heart of Liskeard and are finishing up a bit of wiring and roof work, with a grand opening planned for 24th June. We will use that as our training hub and as our head office. We’ve also taken on a warehouse at Pensilva, we’ve got offices in Redruth and we’ve just taken an office in Exeter as well.

Would it be fair to say in a perfect world, there would be no need for companies like Wildanet? That someone like Openreach would have done everything themselves?

I don’t think companies like Openreach could ever do what we do. And I think that those who are slightly more humble at some of the larger monopolies would actually agree with that. The other Our message reason you need the alt nets is that is no one gets you get choice for left behind the customer. And that choice and competition is better for customers. We’ll do the bits no one else will do, and employ local people while we do it. We are producing this challenger brand juxtaposition, which is really good for competition and it’s really good for the customer, because they get a choice. And actually, there’s nothing wrong with being David to Goliath and keeping people on their toes.

What first attracted you to the position here?

Firstly, it’s back in technology and I was missing it. Trains are very interesting, but they’re not as sexy as broadband! And the technology has got to a stage where I just think it’s ready.

Secondly, it’s also in the south west, which is where I come from and I had got to the stage of really wanting to see this sort of thing in the region. I’d seen Newbury transformed from being a tiny little market town to being ‘Vodabury’. I’d worked in Slough for O2 and seen what they did to transform Slough. And I just think we’re ready for that here now. Why can’t we bring that sort of opportunity and wealth into the local area?

And a third thing was I really liked the founders and the funders when I met them. They are so passionate about what they’re doing, and they’re innovative. I love the way that social digital inclusion is at the heart of what they were thinking about when they set up Wildanet This is something with social purpose. It’s well thought through, and it’s got longevity. And there are plenty of companies out there who will just wait and be snapped up by a big player. We’re not like that. We are trying to make a big difference. So, for me, it was the right combination of right time, right technology, right people, right part of the country, and a good mission. Something exciting to do.

Has being a woman in a traditional maledominated sector made it harder?

To be honest I’ve worked in other sectors and it’s nowhere near as bad as some of the others, by a country mile. I was very lucky because I had a father who was a scientist and helped me believe there was nothing I couldn’t do. I probably was a bit ahead of my time. I suspect that most people bring their children up in that post feminist environment, but I was there in the 70s. So I think I probably started from a really good place - dads are really good at making you feel good about yourself. And if you’ve got a dad who says you can do anything or a mum who says you can do anything, it makes a big difference. I also was incredibly lucky by falling on my feet with Vodafone. They, and even more so O2, do not suffer any form of sexism or racism, where people cannot just be who they are. And they were both ahead of their time as companies. I think Vodafone really gave me more than a fair crack of the whip to make something of myself. I don’t think they even for a blink considered what gender I was; it was the same at O2. And when you’ve had the luxury of working for companies who are that forward thinking, it’s a bit of a shock when you go to the next one and find they’re not like that. Since then, I have encountered a lot of that. Have I ever suffered from the pay gap, doing a job and finding the man next to me is paid more? Yes, sometimes up to a 20% difference. And what have I done about it? I’ve shouted until I got fair pay. But then if you’re not a person who’s not so outgoing and determined to get their way, it must be really hard.

Has this helped shape you into the person you are today?

On one or two occasions it has held me back, because I’ve definitely been put down a step in favour of a man, and it has been based on gender bias. I think it’s also made me more determined. I’d like to make sure that the next generation of females coming through are inspired and want to do it and have got the chance to do it. It’s no more than being given the opportunity equally as a We are trying human being, being the best you can be regardless of age, to make a big orientation, origin or gender. Just be the best you can be. difference When I was working in the Connected Places Catapult before my job with Lumo with lots of young women, it was so good to see these young scientists coming through, fighting their way to the top of their grades, really creating stuff. We just need to get that door firmly open so everyone gets a fair chance. Every person regardless of gender deserves a chance to be the best they can be - no favoritism, just a level playing field. And the other thing I’d say is I think we add something to the boardroom. I think we add something to senior management, I think we bring a different view, a different focus; and I think that’s really healthy for any organisation. The more diversity that you’ve got on a board or in a team, or in a working environment, the greater the positive impact for a business.