A1 Comms has appointed Bobbie Bhogal as its new managing director for digital.
Bhogal started the newly created role on January 9. He boasts a lengthy career in telecoms, having worked at Vodafone as retail development manager before founding online mobile shop e2save in 1996 – which he sold to Carphone Warehouse in 2004.
From 2013 to 2015, he was MD for Carphone’s online solutions, developing e2save and the online presence of mobiles.co.uk.
Bhogal is responsible for developing digital strategy across the Alfreton- based firm’s portfolio of businesses, including consumer retail sites buymobiles.net, affordablemobiles. co.uk, phones.co.uk, and gomobile. co.uk, as well as its Derby call centre.
“Paul [Sisson, A1 Comms CEO] and I go back a long time,” Bhogal said. “What was preventing me from coming to Paul was my loyalty to Carphone Warehouse.
“I’ve spent the best part of last decade helping them, but circumstances have changed a lot there: they have new owners, new teams and new people, and the loyalties aren’t a problem any more. The timing was right more than anything else when Paul approached me.”
He remains a shareholder in his companies OmniCyber Security and creative agency Stickee, but will leave the day-to-day running of the businesses to MDs.
Sisson said of Bhogal’s appointment: “I’ve known Bobbie for more than 20 years. He has a wealth of talent and unparalleled industry experience. It’s a major coup for A1 Comms to secure his services to head our website business and call centre.
“We have exciting times ahead as we develop our websites and product portfolio, and build on our relationships with all four UK mobile phone networks.
“I believe his experience and leadership will help deliver a better experience for our customers and more value for our partners, and ultimately drive us towards new levels of profitability.”
A1 Comms saw a large increase in profit for its most recent financial year ending March 2019, posting £1.7 million after tax – an increase on £635,000 the previous year.
