Interviews  >  Graeme Millar: A man with connections

As Chief Executive of the Jersey Telecom Group, Graeme Millar is the man in charge of overseeing the most ambitious growth plans in the company's history. He talks to Nick Kirby about success, responsibility and driving ambition.

Picture this – you are the head of a company that is owned by the government, so not only are you answerable to a ‘ruling body', you are also technically answerable to the public that the government represents. Plus you are embarking on a five-year strategy that is quite grand in its scope, and it's undeniable that to a certain degree your future depends on its success.

Personally I would be a nervous wreck – but not so Graeme Millar, the CEO of Jersey Telecom Group, who is in that exact situation and seems to thrive on the pressure of it. He was positively chipper when he took the time to speak to businesslife.co about his life, his job and the future for the company he proudly heads up.

You've been in your role for over 18 months now – what would you say the major highlights have been?

The company has achieved a heck of a lot in the last 18 months, and I think it's important to say they are the achievements of the whole company, the whole team. We achieved the highest ever turnover in the company's history in 2010 and we're proud of that. We also had a strong profit performance last year. Last December we launched true fibre 1Gb services in Jersey, and a couple of months ago we did the same thing in Guernsey, which is a very big deal for us. We've also just opened the Rue Des Prés hosting facility, so we are the biggest provider of data hosting in the Channel Islands. One of the things we are really trying to do is play a part in helping Jersey as a whole punch above its weight in the global arena.

What about the biggest challenges?

A large rationalisation of the company had already been announced before I arrived, so probably one of the biggest challenges has been for the company to reset its targets, re-establish its sense of direction and get its ‘mojo' back. We lost 100 colleagues 18 months ago, and it's been a challenge to try and move on from that because the whole company is very close-knit.

Given your background in publicly owned companies, how have you found working for a Government owned entity?

One of the things to understand about Jersey Telecom is that we are structured as if we were a corporate private company or a listed company. We adhere to the latest codes of conduct and the governance process as issued in the UK for listed companies. We have a strong board of directors with a number of eminent non-executives and the relationship with the Shareholder [the States of Jersey] is at ‘arm's length'. There is also a Memorandum of Understanding – a document in which the Shareholder's wishes are clearly stated – so I have a very clear mandate, which you don't necessarily get from a listed company. So, in reality, there is more clarity than I've had before.

Do you think people have a misguided view of what working for a Government-owned company is like?

Some people may have the idea that a States-owned company is cold and sterile, but it's not like that at all. This is the first time I've worked for a business where the shareholder is a government and I came here not knowing what to expect, but what I've found is a company that is very friendly, and where there is a great sense of community.

We've introduced the Jersey Telecom Alumni Club because we worked out that about one in every 100 islanders had a direct family connection with the company – either they themselves or a family member have worked for Jersey Telecom at some point in its history.

And it's different because if you phoned up, say, BT from where you live in Bristol, you might speak to someone in a call centre in Aberdeen – you are never going to bump into them in the street, on the beach or in the supermarket. If you talk to one of our service agents there's a possibility that might happen. I think that closeness to our customers is great.

Of course, all of this could be because Jersey is an island!

You've spent most of your career with Motorola and Vodafone, then more recently with MTS in Russia who have 105 million mobile subscribers. Why ‘little' Jersey Telecom?

Well I'd probably respond to that firstly by saying ‘not-so-little' Jersey Telecom! The company is one of a very small number of Tier 1 telcos in the world [providers that have their own networks]. Also, we have fixed-line, mobile telephony and broadband, and there are very few companies in the world that are ‘triple play' players like ourselves that deliver Tier 1 services. So, obviously, that in itself was a big draw for me.

What's more, Jersey Telecom's got an absolutely huge potential to grow, the company's targets are undoubtedly ambitious but far from unachievable, and we are doing all this with approximately 300 people. It really is a great environment to be working in.

The Regulator recently announced that he welcomed more competition for the fixed-line network. What do you make of that statement?

We continue to deliver world-class products and services and we offer great value for money – and we see from where we had competition in mobile that it sharpened us up and we're stronger for it. So basically I would say ‘bring it on'! I work in probably the most competitive industry in the world right now – not only is fixed-line under threat from other providers but also from mobile and VoIP. Jersey is a very dynamic market place and there is already plenty of competition for people's minutes.

I think one other thing worth saying on the fixed-line side is that we should bear in mind the scale of Jersey Telecom's investment in the island's infrastructure. Without this infrastructure there wouldn't actually be any platform for competition.

Jersey Telecom recently embarked on a five-year growth strategy. Can you share some of the vision with us?

Quite simply our vision is to move Jersey Telecom from being the telecoms provider in Jersey to becoming a global telecoms provider based in Jersey. Another way of saying that is that we want to turn the Channel Islands into a telecommunications hub for Europe. For our customers that means world-class internet, mobile and fixed-line services. For islanders who are ultimately the owners of the company, it means helping to secure the island's prosperity.

How do we get there? One key part of the plan is organic growth through acquisitions, like we've seen with ekit. Because of that, three months ago we started to sell our first SIM cards in North America. With the ekit acquisition, we now get over a third of a million customers contracting for different services around the world. Where acquisitions make sense, they are an important part of the mix and the expansion.

Then there is the Gigabit Isles initiative, which brings 1Gb broadband to Jersey. All that fibre attracts companies to start to relocate to Jersey because they see us as a communications hub – which is great for us and great for the island's economy as well.

We also recently signed a deal with a Chinese company called UTStarcom who are moving their research and development facilities to our research facility in Jersey. This is the start of a major new partnership that will help support the diversity and growth for Jersey's economy. Similar partnerships, where appropriate, are also part of the plan.

In order to grow to the size you need, will the States need to sell Jersey Telecom?

I don't think so. Obviously the ownership of the company is really a question you need to ask the States. But what I would say is that we have a growth strategy, fully endorsed by the Shareholder, that we're in the process of executing. As we are growing and pulling more money into the island, we are increasing the capital value of the company for the Shareholder, so I'm not sure what a change of ownership would achieve.

Looking forward, what do you see as the immediate areas of focus and what are the key challenges?

I sometimes say to my people that I'm paid to be paranoid. I'm generally worried about whether we are serving our customers really well, and what do we need to do better. What's the competition up to and are they finding ways of serving customers better than us; and if so, what do we do about it? There are a lot of good things happening at the moment, such as the roll out of fibre, and upgrades to processes and systems, and we need to make sure that we keep our momentum going while minimising risk.

We are absolutely focused on improving things for our customers, and we have to have our eyes wide open for the next cloud on the horizon because there are always problems that come along.

Do you see your role as long-term?

I‘m happy here. That said, I'm accountable for the results of the company. I have to perform. I'll stay for as long as I add value to the company, and won't outstay my welcome!

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