Gamma channel veteran Andy Smethurst joins Pangea Connected

IoT specialist Pangea Connected has strengthened its UK channel leadership with the appointment of former Gamma Communications channel veteran Andy Smethurst as Channel Director.

Smethurst’s role will be to help Pangea partners integrate cellular into their propositions more systematically, aligning pricing, positioning and delivery so deals can be replicated without being re-engineered each time.

Smethurst, who spent more than 20 years at Gamma helping scale the business from an early-stage provider into a FTSE-listed operator, will now lead partner strategy at Pangea Connected as the firm looks to turn cellular IoT connectivity into a more consistent revenue stream for UK resellers, MSPs and distributors.

The hire marks one of Pangea’s most senior channel appointments and signals a push to capitalise on growing demand for cellular connectivity across the enterprise and IoT markets.

Growth

During his two decades at Gamma, Smethurst held a range of senior channel leadership roles, managing national partner teams and building indirect sales routes that helped drive significant revenue growth.

His experience spans reseller, MSP and wholesale channel models.  Pangea believes this expertise will help partners package cellular connectivity as a repeatable commercial proposition rather than a one-off sale.

“Most businesses are still selling cellular like it’s a SIM card, but customers are trying to deploy connected estates,” Smethurst said.

“The demand is already there. The challenge is industrialising how it’s sold so partners can scale it properly. Cellular connectivity is already widely used across the UK channel, from backup connectivity and rapid deployment to IoT devices and distributed business operations. But it is often sold as an add-on rather than a core service. When a product stays reactive, it fails to become strategic, It becomes opportunistic revenue rather than planned growth  and that limits scalability.”

Channel-first focus

Pangea operates a partner-only model and sees cellular IoT as a growing opportunity for UK channel firms as organisations deploy more connected devices and distributed infrastructure.

Smethurst will work alongside partner sales teams to identify repeatable use cases, such as: pre-ethernet connectivity that evolves into long-term backup. temporary deployments that become permanent, IoT pilot schemes that scale into operational networks

Pangea said the goal is to help partners design cellular into solutions from the outset, making it a predictable and structured revenue stream. The company added that the appointment reflects continued investment in its UK channel strategy as connectivity becomes more central to partner portfolios.

“If cellular in a partner’s portfolio feels more structured than situational, and more predictable than opportunistic, then we’ll have done our job,” Smethurst said.

The move highlights the growing competition among connectivity providers to recruit experienced channel leaders as demand rises for managed IoT and resilient network solutions.