Jurassic Fibre

Jurassic Fibre is an award-winning full-fibre broadband provider based in Exeter. Founded in 2018 by Michael Maltby, a Sidmouth resident, the company is received  a £250 million investment from Fern Trading to build its own cutting-edge network across the South West, passing over 350,000 homes. The network provides ultrafast  connectivity with speeds of up to 950Mbps for residents and 10Gbps for businesses. Jurassic Fibre has a growing presence in the marketplace and was named the Best New Internet Provider at the 2020 ISP Awards. With over 250 employees, Jurassic Fibre  supports local communities through sponsorship, investment and employment.

In an interview with IndustryWired, three key members of the Jurassic Fibreleadership team – Michael Maltby, CEO and Founder; Terri-Ann Grant, Director of Network Design & Operations; and, Steve Garrood, Chief Commercial Officer – share their experiences and talk about how the company is providing local support, better and reinforced services.

Meet Michael Maltby, the Leader Who Laid the Foundation for Jurassic Fibre

Michael Maltby, CEO and Founder of Jurassic Fibre,says that the company was created to address the digital inequality being experienced by local  communities in the South West. He reveals the company’s goal is to become the region’s full fibre provider by building its own cutting-edge network across towns and villages in Devon, Somerset, and Dorset that are usually overlooked by the large national operators.

Michael says: “As aSidmouth resident myself, I am all too familiar with the issues surrounding connectivity in the communities of the South West. Having built networks across the world from Russia to the Caribbean, I have seen first-hand the power of such networks to drive change. By making the infrastructure digitally fit for the 21st Century, it will unleash the economic potential of the region, and help the long-overdue process of rebalancing the country.”

Furthermore, hestates that Jurassic Fibre is in a unique position to be able to offer world-leading digital technology with the support of a local company. Jurassic Fibre’s packages run on a monthly rolling contract, with the option to upgrade or downgrade once per month. This gives the control back to the customer and shows that the company is confident about its service offerings. Michaelbelieves that Jurassic Fibre’s flexibility for the customers sets it apart from other broadband providers in the market and We aim to be the digital plumbers of the South West at a time when digital connectivity in the 21st Century is similar to the railways of the 19th Century -In changing the face of society for ever and future proofing the prosperity of the South West allowing it to start fulfilling its potential as the best place to live, work and relax in the United Kingdom.”

Meet Terri-Ann Grant, Director of Network Design & Operations

Terri-Ann Grant, Director of Network Design & Operations at Jurassic Fibre’s, background is heavily in GIS (Geographic Information Systems) and involves enterprise-level implementation management and integration between systems. Working in the telecom field for the past sixteen years, she started off in agriculture and then entered telecommunications in 2014 and has been working in this industry ever since.

What excited Terri-Ann most about Jurassic Fibre was that the company gave her the opportunity to put her stamp on the development of the system, as opposed to fixing things that were broken on entry. She now manages a team of 22 in Jamaica and the UK.

Terri-Ann reveals: “One of the things that shaped my journey as a successful leader was my previous experience of how mymanager/director operated. She was a very driven, principled, and inspiring leader andseeing a woman taking on the reigns of a male-dominated field inspired me.”

According to Terri-Ann, one of the biggest challenges she has faced so far is the transition to a different working culture in the UK. She said this is because the Caribbean way of life was very different to England. Trying to understand the landscapes, the dos and don’ts, the mode of operation, the dynamics, was “a bit of a learning curve,” she explains.

Terri-Annesays: “Trying to get an understanding of what Jurassic Fibre was going to do was also tough in the initial days. As a start-up, plans were subject to change. The challenge was working with the dynamics of a start-up versus an established company that has a well embedded strategy, and has the budget and existing infrastructure in place.”

Terri-Ann believes to be a leader, one should be strong and inspiring. She insists that leaders need an accommodating spirit so that people respect them with a level of authority but still feel comfortable approaching them with issues. Setting clear goals and expectations is also critical. Lastly, she advises understanding the value and strengths of each of team member and making sure that leaders develop their potential.

“By doing so, the whole team believes that ‘we can do it, no matter what happens.’ It is inspiration, leadership, and collaboration with the team, which makes leadership fulfilling. It’s about ensuring that everyone feels involved and understands the value of their input and works together to make sure that they are the best they can be.”

Terri-Ann believes AI and the advancements of technology as a whole has helped Jurassic Fibretodo things in weeks or months that typically has taken years to implement, thanks to this technology. The speeds that Jurassic Fibre provides to its customers have vastly improved.

Terri-Ann says: “I have already seen how the organisation has grown in the last two years. It will most likely be the next Virgin; ultimately that’s what I sees Jurassic Fibre being for rural communities, unraveling a bright future. Jurassic Fibre’s solid, driven team will ensure that everyone buys into the belief that this is going to happen.”

Terri-Ann advises budding leaders to only take on a role if they are truly passionate about it. She adds: “Know your why. There will be challenges, but leaders ought to go back and ask themselves:‘Why am I doing this?’ The answer will help them carry on the journey.”

Meet Steve Garrood, a Dynamic Leader with a Big Vision

Steve Garrood, Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) of Jurassic Fibre,has a background in engineering fueled by a passion for motorsport. Steve joined the company with over 20 years of experience in sales and marketing for global network operators in FTTx, FTTC and FTTP networks, mobile telecommunications, OTT and IoT solutions. Steve has held positions across a range of businesses, from large corporations including T-Mobile, Telefonica, Deutsche Telekom and Telewest (previously NTL) to start-ups such as Truphone, Insightful Technology and FYLD.

Most recently, Steve worked as the CCO of Field Force Automation product, where he harnessed artificial intelligence to deliver on-site risk assessments and was responsible for preparing the start-up for the launch from incubation into the global marketplace. Before this, he held the position of CCO for a London-based company offering SaaS-based surveillance and compliance platform. He aided in transforming the company from a single to omni-channel businesses, delivering double-digit growth, and a strong market evaluation, whilst securing seed funding for the organisation.

In his new role at Jurassic Fibre, Steve is responsible for driving profitable growth in sales from both residential and business customers, building the company’s brand across  the South West. He is passionate about making Jurassic Fibre the provider of choice within the region, as well as a top 50 service and workplace organisation in the UK.

Having worked for global corporates and start-up businesses, Steve has a great understanding of best practices, innovation and the motivation needed to succeed. Fundamentally, having operated within high-performance sales and marketing teams, his past learnings help inspire staff, suppliers and customers to come on the revolutionary journey that Jurassic Fibre is embarking on.

Steve believes that in many cases, setting the right long term goals is vital to becoming a successful leader. He goes on to say, that Covid-19 has taught Jurassic Fibre that many projects could fail by not reaching their destination or having the ability to alter course when necessary, due to changes in market conditions.

He says: “The South West of England is the ‘Land That Time Forgot’ when it comes to technology and broadband services. It has been underserved and underinvested by all the major ISPs even when backed by government schemes.

“Connecting communities, families and bringing the SW into the digital age with Jurassic Fibre’s own revolution to launching 950Mbpsfibre to the home is our goal.”

He recalls that the biggest challenge the company faced was being a new entrant, delivering against the broken promises of other providers. In order to mitigate this, Jurassic Fibre worked closely with the local community, hired employees from the local area and invested in infrastructure to serve the local areas for years to come.

Steve states: “CCOs should have the ability to work at pace across many areas of the business, but never losing sight of the objectives. Many CCOs fail to focus on their people, which is critical in building high-performance teams. They should instead align them to the company’s vision and objectives.” Steve insists leaders should ‘train the team to grow, reward to stay!’

Jurassic Fibre’s cutting-edge network is full fibre, or fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP). The companyis educating its customers on the difference betweenfibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC), which is the best many ISP in the area offer, and FTTP, where full upload and download speeds are delivered with no degrading of performance. Steve affirms that for Jurassic Fibre, it’s all about customer experience from the company’s ultrafast reliable speeds, to its rolling contracts and flexible package options.

He gives credit to Big Data and AI tools for Jurassic Fibre’s network build and capacity planning, adding that with insights the data offers to the company, Jurassic Fibre is able to build an on-demand network to reach the hard locations within its network footprint. This ensures that the company can service both business and consumers. Steve reveals that with additional robotic processes coming into Jurassic Fibre’s business, the team can automate data into its systems. He highlights that this ultimately delivers great customer service and enables business agility and decision making.

Steve discloses that, unlike many other ISPs, Jurassic Fibre has a 10+ year build plan and has also designed a network to scale and acquire other operators into its organisation. He adds that with the demand for high speed, high availability connection speeds linked to home working, streamed entertainment and IoT demand continues to grow rapidly with old networks or mobile operations unable to compete. He declares that Jurassic Fibre is well-positioned to be a dominant, high-performance, customer-centric organisation, with the potential to scale well beyond the South West of England in the future.

The simple advice that Steve gives to his team is: “It’s ok to make mistakes, but never make the same one twice. Sometimes you need to ‘Dare to be Different’ if you want to build something incredible.”

Management:

Michael Maltby, CEO and Founder, Terri-Ann Grant, Director of Network Design & Operations, and Steve Garrood, Chief Commercial Officer- Jurassic Fibre

URL

https://jurassic-fibre.com/