Founded in 2002, Wifirst has established itself as the European leader in managed WiFi services. Originally incorporated in France, it expanded internationally in 2016 and now covers 26 countries across EMEA, serving the hospitality, housing, healthcare, retail and B2B sectors.
Wifirst first partnered with Neos Networks in April 2017 with the aim of developing its presence across the UK. Tapping into Neos Networks’ extensive national reach and high capacity backhaul services, Wifirst has been able to bring business-grade WiFi networks to its UK customers. This, alongside Neos Networks recent investment in the development and expansion of its own network, made it ideally placed to support Wifirst’s connectivity ambitions, enabling the service provider to better serve their clients in the hospitality industry.
The challenge
One of Wifirst’s hospitality clients is a multinational player with whom Wifirst has provided internet services for several years.
When Wifirst looked to move into the UK market, they were keen to continue serving the hospitality provider, targeting its multiple sites across the country. The customer was looking to replace their existing legacy solutions while upgrading their connections within a swift delivery timescale. In order to meet these criteria, Wifirst needed a partner with its own UK fibre network, who could offer seamless 1Gbps connectivity to end-customer across multiple sites.
The outcome
Neos Networks had a pre-existing relationship as a provider of layer 2 connectivity to the parent company of Wifirst UK. Therefore, when it came to sourcing a backhaul provider, they were top of mind, in part thanks to Neos Networks’ extensive network reach, experience in supporting delivery of connectivity to customer sites within short timeframes, and ability to offer highly robust services at a competitive price point.
This collaboration allowed Wifirst, with the support of Neos Networks fibre infrastructure, to roll-out WiFi services into the UK properties of the client. The project is now nearing completion with circa 80% of sites already delivered, with the remaining 20% due to be handed over in the coming months.
Of course, the project was not without its challenges. The delivery of net-new circuits while implementing a new firewall and deploying and testing the back-up Digital Subscriber Line created complexity at times, but Neos Networks and Wifirst’s close collaboration resulted in the seamless transition to the new services. This has meant minimal disruption to the end-customers day-to-day operations with no downtime to their connectivity service.
Today, the client benefits from simplified supply and support as it collaborates with a single provider, Wifirst, who deliver combined services covering all sites. This puts them in a stronger position to offer improved quality of service to their end-customers.
For Wifirst, this successful deployment of services is indicative of its ability to serve the UK market through its successful partnership with Neos Networks, enabling the provider to take on more opportunities throughout the UK.
“Neos Networks was perfectly placed to help us deliver exceptional WiFi managed services to our UK hospitality customers in a way that supports their long-term growth. As the success of the highlighted project has shown, we have established an important synergy with Neos Networks which has resulted in an improved end experience and service availability for our customer. Without its skills and expertise, as well as its infrastructure and reach, we wouldn’t have been able to act tactically to pursue this specific business opportunity outside of our home country.”
Theo Dimishky, Business Development Director at Wifirst
“We’re really pleased to have been given the opportunity to support Wifirst establish its presence in the UK and deliver outstanding quality of service. For us, providing the best customer experience is essential, so it’s been fantastic to work with a company that shares our values. We were able to demonstrate the strength of this synergy through our joint delivery. Our speed of execution and seamless service transition were key in providing the reliable connectivity that the customer required while maintaining business continuity.”
Mike Mitchell, Sales Director for Wholesale Partners at Neos Networks
