KJC

Ridown’s rich heritage in telecoms began in 1987 when Darren Ridge co-founded KJC, one of the first high street retailers of mobile phones.

In many ways KJC was a pioneer at the dawn of the mobile telecoms industry, selling devices in retail stores ahead of major brands such as Carphone Warehouse.

Darren and KJC co-founder Joe Case began with one store in Lee-on-the-Solent, Hampshire, selling devices and contracts at a point when mobile technology was becoming affordable for the public.

The business grew to become a network of 60 branches across the South of England, combining its strong retail presence with advertising in national newspapers to grow sales at a time before widespread public internet access.

KJC evolved from its roots as a consumer business to become one of the pioneers in business-to-business telecoms, and at the time was Vodafone’s largest partner.

The business was sold to PNC Telecom in 2001, and Darren went on to found Premier Telecom, later to merge with Business Phones Direct to form Onecom.