Proud but poignant day for communications company honoured with prestigious Royal award
A Hednesford-based telecommunications company celebrated one of its proudest, and most poignant, days with the presentation of a prestigious Royal award.
Mobell Communications Ltd was awarded the King’s Award for Enterprise in the international trade category back on May 6.
The recognition was a real honour for the company, which operates from a disused coalmine site in Staffordshire, although it was bittersweet as the inspirational founder of the firm, Tony Smith, died at the age of 90 just nine days after news of the accolade was announced.
Company chairman Vince Owen, Mr Smith’s nephew, was delighted to receive the honour but he described the official presentation of the accolade on September 3 by Professor Elizabeth Barnes CBE, the Lord-Lieutenant of Staffordshire, as “especially poignant” following his uncle’s death and he added: “In some ways it was his lifetime achievement award.”
The honour was bestowed in recognition of Mobell’s significant growth after the business saw turnover double in three years.
The company, which today employs 32 staff in Hednesford and Tokyo, began in the 1980s as a small mobile phone venture renting cutting-edge cellular phone technology to businesses that needed to keep connected from hard-to-reach locations.
Tony Smith established Mobell in 1989 after experiencing the frustration of trying to keep in touch with friends, family and colleagues while travelling overseas.
