CellularOne’s success over the last seven years can be attributed not only to its huge customer base and dedicated staff, but also to the unwavering efforts of its two founders — Michael Leverock and Kurt Eve.

The two men sat down with The Royal Gazette to talk about the company’s humble beginnings and its continued growth and expansion. They met in 1994 when Mr. Leverock, who had his own telecommunications company at that stage, appeared before the commission to apply for a license.

“As part of the preparation for my application, I went to Michael’s public hearing. Unfortunately his application was turned down, but I could tell this guy knew what he was talking about, so I approached him and told him I had an application pending,” Mr. Eve explains.

“Over a series of months, we came to an agreement as to how we wanted to see the company go forward. So we both basically took it from the ground up,” Mr. Leverock adds.

CellularOne made history as the first cellular provider in Bermuda to challenge the Bermuda Telephone Company, the only wireless provider in Bermuda at that stage.

“When you are competing with a monopoly, people are inclined to give you the benefit of the doubt because you are someone new, but you have to earn their business and retain it, so we always said we would focus on customer care,” Mr. Eve maintains.

Over the subsequent years the company grew to include five stores and 47 employees, while the corporate office, which once consisted of a one room boasting a card table in the rear, now includes most of their building on Reid Street.

However, it was not always smooth sailing Mr. Leverock explains: “Dealing with the incumbent, getting the network built, raising the money, finding the staff and getting the office physically set up — those were just some of the challenges.”

Mr. Eve elaborates that the store opened the same time the service was launched, almost out of necessity: “Initially the plan was that we would be a carrier and that we would have a network around the Island, but would use dealers because we didn’t want retail stores.

“But we were very fortunate that as we got closer to launching the service, we had some issues with the dealers who were tied into the incumbent. So we decided that we should think about opening the store.”

What followed was a lucky string of events, including the downstairs store on Reid Street which had just become available when a well-known jeweller moved out.

“What’s exciting for us is that we started small with hardly any money and basically played catch-up with BTC who had 16,000 customers,” Mr. Eve elaborates.

“We always wanted to get out in front and that costs a lot of money, but now we are clearly in front as the network we deploy is a true third generation wireless network and we have well in excess of 20,000 subscribers.”

He adds that it was also rewarding to see the growth while also maintaining the culture of the company.

“We focus on results and don’t get too hung up on the bureaucratic process. Between having the best network and the best people, it allows us to provide the best customer care,” he says, adding that CellularOne has always been structured around its customers and this is what has sets it apart from the competition.

As for the sometimes “unusual” corporate culture of CellularOne Mr. Leverock explains: “We encourage togetherness among our staff and are very tolerant of their family lives. Ever year we have a family fun day to celebrate our anniversary and we also have various other social events.”

Mr. Eve adds that the company’s mission statement ends with the words, “have fun!”

“We believe that work is work, but it does not have to be painful,” he chuckles. “You can ask anyone working here and hopefully they will tell you that it is a fun place to work.”

Mr. Leverock is also proud of the fact that the company helps people reach their full potential and staff are offered various training opportunities.

As for the future of CellularOne, Mr. Leverock declares the company is constantly expanding and milestones over the last seven years are testimony to that.

“We will just continue to expand the services based on the trends in the industry,” he states.

In an effort to keep their finger on the constantly changing pulse of mobile technology, both men regularly visit trade shows in both Europe and the United States.

However, when asked if they consider themselves gadget geeks both men simply chuckle and say they compliment each other as Mr. Leverock is an engineer by trade who likes to think he owns every little gadget, while Mr. Eve has a business background and admits that he had one of the first car phones back in the 1990s.

“It cost $12,000 and weighed about three pounds!” he laughs.