Closing 2024 with a month that was… 100, Movember, appointments, greener networks & more!

If you're reading this, there's a good chance you've been following my articles since I began this journey in April. I thank you for your continued interest and promise to keep sharing my thoughts in 2025 with some new twists… As this is my final article for the year, I'll be recapping some key milestones from the past weeks as well as from a fantastic 2024, with plenty of pictures you can enjoy.

100

Let me start with the number 100. This is the number of venues (stations and tunnels) we've launched on the Transport for London (TfL) network since the project's inception—100!? A big well done to our TfL team for achieving this.

The cherry on top is the completion of full cellular coverage on the Elizabeth line, bringing high-speed mobile connectivity to all stations and tunnels. This milestone reflects our shared commitment with TfL and the Mayor to enhance the travel experience with reliable, high-quality connectivity across the city. Our clear focus now is on driving the next phase to complete the entire program on time and within budget over the next two years.

It's also important to highlight that TfL is much more than just cellular coverage in the underground. It significantly improves London's overall connectivity through our investments in fibre and streetscape/Small Cells.

Movember

At Boldyn we no longer call the month by its name but ‘Movember’, and what a month it was! We raised an incredible ￡25,965 (with Gift Aid). I committed to donating ￡1 per like/comment/repost on my LinkedIn, which gives you an idea of how important this is to me personally. With Boldyn matching every pound raised, that meant almost ￡52,000 will go towards initiatives for prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health, and suicide prevention. This achievement reflects the Boldyn spirit at its best — One Boldyn coming together for a cause that truly matters.

Appointments

We welcomed a new board member Nicola Palmer . I am so pleased about this! We have been looking at bringing Nicki on board for a while and I know she will add so much value to our global executive team, our US team, our board and the overall business.

We also released the news of a change of leadership in the UK & Ireland which you can read on our website. ?I am not going to add anymore except to say again a massive thank you to Billy D'Arcy and a massive well done to Brendan O'Reilly , whose extensive expertise will enable us to lead the business into the next phase of growth and delivery for our customers.

Greener networks

We released the results of an ABI research on Neutral Host benefits. The highlight being that neutral host networks are 38% greener and up to 47% more cost-effective than traditional 5G standalone deployments. This is the first-of-its-kind research in the telco industry and a step forward in our and the industry’s commitment to a sustainable future for everyone. I invite you to read it.

A year in review

2024 is for me a year of gratitude. Gratitude to our investors, to our Board, to our customers, partners and employees. At Boldyn, we saw our business grow globally by more than 18% and we’re realising our purpose by interconnecting over one billion people!

With the support of our majority shareholder CPP Investments, we extended our family with the integration of our Higher Education and Private Networks Europe businesses. This meant the addition of +350 colleges and universities to our portfolio of customers and +60 private network deployments which also opened the doors to new markets, including Finland, Spain and France. ????

We continued to invest in our multi-year partnerships to finance and deliver the biggest, most complex network infrastructures. I’m particularly proud of our smart city projects in Italy, the US and the UK; the diversity of verticals we’re serving, from major transit services to ports, wind farms, airports, and venues, to the US Military and smart campuses; and the significant progress we made this year with the MTA, BART, MTR, and TfL which I mentioned above. ??

A business with purpose

Nothing is more important to me than building a business with purpose. That's why I'm deeply involved in developing our Boldyn culture and greatly value the power and innovation each team member brings to our success. This commitment led me to start a series of internal podcasts—seven so far. I've had to meet some unusual requests ?, like being the captain of a boat or leading a city tour inside a London cab, but it's all worth it to learn from each other and continue being a bold and dynamic organisation!

Our final pulse survey for the year had an impressive 89% employee response rate. For me, every single one of the 227 comments is crucial in shaping our culture. We also held our Beyond Leadership Conference, where I spoke about the human magic behind a thriving business—a theme you'll hear me emphasise throughout the year. I could go on about people, one of my passions, but perhaps it's best if you check out a recent article from the editorial team at TelcoTitans, which I think describes my perspective well.

Speaking of culture, we had several team celebrations this year. I have to say that my favourite one was the ping pong championship organised by our US team although unfortunately I lost against the future winner??

Not to mention our 2024 holiday parties, bringing together all colleagues from around the world. I think the pictures below speak for themselves!

The year in numbers

To honour all the projects we've completed this year and to express our gratitude to our customers and partners, our marketing team has created a short video that captures it all brilliantly, please take a moment to watch it!

Boldyn Networks 2024 highlights

Lastly, this time, I will not recommend you to read a particular book but to spend quality time with your loved ones. I wish you a wonderful festive season with family and friends and a new year filled with exciting plans and, most importantly, great health.

In the coming month, I hope to be writing these articles from our brand-new London HQ office. If not, perhaps from our stylish Boldyn Bus—who knows!

Here's to a fantastic 2025!