Telecoms firm set up by two friends in Waterlooville marks its second decade in business

Shout Telecoms is a privately owned and funded company in Picton House, Waterlooville

It was set up by Alan Francis and David Thorne in 2001, who met while working for a Fareham-based communications company.

Alan said: ‘We set up Shout because the company we were working for at the time, they weren't filling all the opportunities, we saw that and we decided to fill that gap.

‘As a large telecoms operator we really have brought in something you couldn’t get elsewhere.'

With the first formal offices located in a converted lambing barn in West Stoke, Chichester, Shout has now been settled in its current offices in Waterlooville since 2007.

Within one month of forming the company the first contract came in from Virgin Mobile and in the following years the company has delivered intelligent voice solutions for the likes of BT, EE, Motorola, TalkTalk, T-Mobile and Vodafone.

Despite the disruptions of the pandemic, the company has continued to thrive, signing two major national contracts.

The nature of the business and the reliance on Shout technology within many UK networks requires a 365/24/7 round the clock support system and subsequently has classified the team as key workers. With a highly technical workforce, the Shout team quickly adapted to the new mix of working from the office and home as required.

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With Shout’s technical strategy strongly focused on developing, delivering and supporting its own technology, rather than buying it in, having the development team in house has been essential to its success.

It also prides itself on the employment of local people and has actively sourced technical talent from local universities, with members of the current team coming from Portsmouth, Southampton, and Brighton University. In September last year the newest member of the team, Ronan McCarthy, joined after graduating from the University of Portsmouth.

David said: ‘It feels amazing to get to 20 years. It is a long time. You read about how many companies only last a couple of years so we have done very well.

‘And we have plans to expand the company, grow our business portfolio, it’s not over yet, we want to still be here in 20 years time.'

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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