O2 appoints Paul Lawton as Head of O2 Small Business Division

O2 in the UK today announced that it has appointed Paul Lawton as Head of its Small Business division with immediate effect. Lawton, brings over 20 years’ experience of working in the communications industry with a focus on the business markets.

Lawton will have full P&L responsibility for the O2 Small Business team including marketing, sales, partner channels and the customer experience. He is tasked with evolving and executing O2’s Joined-Up Business strategy into the small business sector while continuing to drive thought leadership, innovation and growth.

Ben Dowd, Business Director at Telefónica UK said: “Paul has impressive and relevant experience that makes him the ideal choice to lead our Small Business offering here at O2 and he brings great insight and experience. We have huge ambitions for our small business sector; we want to bring the right services to market through propositions like “All in” and the industrialisation of O2 Unify for businesses ready to take next ICT step. In addition, we feel it is critical to support UK businesses through difficult times by putting programmes in place such as the Smarta awards and our Wayra Academy which not only recognises and supports excellence but helps a new generation of small businesses enter the market.”

Paul Lawton said: “O2 has made great strides in the business space and I am joining a team of people who have a wealth of knowledge. They truly know their audience and understand the way mobile technologies can make a difference to a small business. We are evolving to include broadband and fixed in ouroffering, and this evolution will continue. However, it’s critical to ensure that any technology is easy to understand, available and supported in the right way and – most importantly – brings real benefit to businesses which are often time poor. This is the challenge and I am looking forward to stepping up to it.”

Lawton was Managing Director at TalkTalk Business (formerly Opal Telecom), one of the UK’s most successful providers of next generation voice and data connectivity to more than 100,000 business customers, for over five years. He had direct responsibility for sales, marketing, operations, systems, product management and commercial areas. During this time he completed eight acquisitions and developed both direct and partner sales channels to serve key markets.

Previously, Lawton was director of mobile and marketing at Your Communications Ltd, a leading UK provider of fixed, mobile and Internet based services to the UK business market.

Lawton replaces Simon Devonshire who has become Director of the Wayra Academies across Europe and will report to Business Director Ben Dowd, who reports to Telefónica UK Chief Executive, Ronan Dunne.

Ends

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About O2

O2 is the commercial brand of Telefónica UK Limited and is a leading communications company with over 23 million customers – read more about O2 at www.o2.co.uk/news. O2 runs 2G and 3G networks and was the first to trial 4G/LTE, reaching speeds of over 100Mpbs, as well as owning half of Tesco Mobile. It also operates O2 Wifi, O2 Health, O2 Unify, O2 Media and has recently launched the O2 Wallet. O2 employs over 11,000 people in the UK, has 450 retail stores and sponsors The O2, O2 Academy venues and the England rugby team.

Telefónica UK Limited is part of Telefónica Europe plc which uses O2 as its commercial brand in the UK, Ireland, Slovakia, Germany and the Czech Republic and is a business division of Telefónica SA.

For more information contact:

O2 Press Office
O2
t:01753565656
e: pressoffice@o2.com

About O2 in the UK
O2 is the commercial brand of Telefónica UK Limited and is a leading communications company with over 23 million customers – read more about O2 at www.o2.co.uk/news. O2 runs 2G and 3G networks and was the first to trial 4G/LTE, reaching speeds of over 100Mpbs, as well as owning half of Tesco Mobile. It also operates O2 Wifi, O2 Health, O2 Unify, O2 Media and has recently launched the O2 Wallet. O2 employs over 11,000 people in the UK, has 450 retail stores and sponsors The O2, O2 Academy venues and the England rugby team. Telefónica UK Limited is part of Telefónica Europe plc which uses O2 as its commercial brand in the UK, Ireland, Slovakia, Germany and the Czech Republic and is a business division of Telefónica SA.