Greater Manchester Business Week – December 05, 2018

DECEMBER 2018 Business 21

A scheme to get the fastest public wi-fi

speeds in Europe could be rolled out

across Manchester city centre if backed

by council chiefs.

It comes after a trial in the gay village

by OneTek who are now in talks with

Manchester council to roll it out to

neighbouring boroughs.

The company is behind the

successful trial of Glee-fi the public

access hyperfast Wi-Fi network in the

village. The firm is also in talks with the

Northern Quarter Business Association

and its members about rolling it out in

the neighbourhood.

Currently, public Wi-Fi in

Manchester city centre runs at around

2MB – 6MB meaning that speeds are

sluggish during peak times. Hyperfast

speeds are officially classified as speeds

of more than 500MB.

Lee Donoghey, managing director of

OneTek, the company behind the

scheme, said: “The gay village in

Manchester now has the fastest public

Wi-Fi speeds in Europe. If Manchester

is truly a 21st century, digital city we

need to roll out the pilot we’ve done

there across the rest of the city.

OneTek was launched in 2008 by Lee

Donaghey and provides wi-fi solutions

across the country.

Fastest wi-fi could be

set for city centre

SnapShot

Andy Wood, creative director, One

What is your business background?

Graduating from Manchester

Metropolitan University in the late 90s

with a BA in Design & Art Direction, I

joined McCann Manchester as a junior

copywriter.

Fast forward to 2004, I began working

freelance, wearing both my art director

and copywriter hats for a number of

agencies and direct clients across the

North West.

In 2016, I started working with

Manchester marketing agency One and

it was obviously a good fit. So here I am

a few years later, delighted to be

heading up the creative team.

What is your biggest achievement?

During the 14 years I worked freelance,

I was always proud of the trust my

clients put in me and how they looked

to me to support their business and

success.

However, I was delighted to be asked

by One’s management team take the

reins on a permanent basis. Over the

past 12 months, my role and

relationship with One has grown

significantly, so taking the CD’s chair

seemed a natural progression and a

great opportunity for all parties.

What are the aims of the business?

One is a full service, fully-integrated

marketing agency. Whether online or

off, we have the expertise and

capabilities to exploit the right

channels in order to give brands the

exposure and engagement they need

and deliver the results they want.

What are the benefits of working in

Greater Manchester?

Born in Yorkshire, I was drawn to

Manchester in my teens and have

never left.

It’s such an amazing city in so many

ways. Proud, resilient, diverse, creative

• Manchester feels like nowhere else in
  the world.
  In the three decades it’s been my
  home, the transformation has been
  unbelievable.
  As Ian Brown famously said
  “Manchester’s got everything except a
  beach.” And to be fair, there are plenty
  of those just a short drive away.

“We have the skills, infrastructure
and the talent base and all the right
elements in the ecosystem to make
creative, digital and tech businesses a
success.”
Lou Cordwell, CEO of magneticNorth
and board member of the Greater
Manchester Local Enterprise
Partnership, added: “The impressive
rates of growth we’re witnessing are
evidence of Manchester’s position as
leading centre for the creative, digital
and tech sector as well as for those
businesses outside of this sector but
with strong digital ambitions.
“Attracting, developing and retaining
tech talent will be of vital importance
in achieving our ambitions as a city
region and that means that we must
continue to invest in desirable and
affordable transport and housing as
well as our cultural offering, to
maintain the city’s burgeoning
reputation as a great place to live.”

Lou Cordwell,

magneticNorth