Pangea Connected has appointed Andy Smethurst as Channel Director, strengthening its focus on helping partners across the UK channel turn cellular IoT connectivity into a consistent, scalable revenue line.
Andy joins Pangea with more than 20 years’ experience leading channel growth across reseller, MSP and indirect models. Most recently, he spent over two decades at Gamma, where he held a number of senior channel leadership roles and played a key part in scaling the business from an early-stage provider into a FTSE-listed company.
Across his career, Andy has led national channel sales teams, managed strategic partner relationships and overseen significant revenue growth through indirect routes to market — experience he now brings to Pangea as cellular connectivity becomes a more material part of partner propositions.
Cellular already features widely across the UK channel — spanning backup, primary business connectivity, rapid deployment, and IoT devices — and in many customer environments, the underlying need for cellular connectivity is already present. What varies across the industry is how consistently that need is converted into structured, repeatable revenue.
“The problem isn’t demand. It’s the struggle to industrialise how it’s sold,” said Andy. “Most businesses are still selling cellular like it’s a SIM card, but customers are trying to deploy connected estates.”
Often, cellular is positioned as a bolt-on — used for contingency, temporary access or niche scenarios — even as organisations build distributed, data-driven operations that rely on resilient, always-on connectivity. Andy’s role is focused on changing that dynamic by helping partners move cellular from opportunistic sales into a repeatable part of their commercial motion.
“When a product stays reactive, it fails to become strategic,” he said. “It becomes opportunistic revenue rather than planned growth — and that kills scalability.”
As Channel Director, Andy will work closely with partners and internal sales teams to embed cellular more consistently within partner propositions — aligning positioning, pricing and delivery so it can be sold confidently and scaled without re-working assumptions on every deal.
“We have a sales team that’s genuinely comfortable working alongside partner sales teams — not just supplying connectivity, but helping identify, shape and close cellular IoT opportunities with customers.”
A key part of the role is recognising the patterns where cellular reliably becomes commercially material. For example, where pre-ethernet connectivity evolves into long- term backup, where temporary connections become permanent by default, or where IoT deployments move quickly from pilot to operational dependency as estates scale — and ensuring those scenarios are structured deliberately from the outset.
“One-off deals prove capability,” Andy added. “But scalable models prove maturity. Real growth comes from simplicity, structure and repeatable motions.”
“The model we’re building at Pangea is about designing cellular into partner propositions from the outset. That means clear commercial structure, simple messaging, repeatable use cases, and confidence that growth won’t introduceunnecessary complexity — not partners having to rethink where cellular fits every time.”
“And packaged entry points — whether that’s pre-ethernet, failover, primary 5G, or bundled solutions like body-worn video or home monitoring IoT solutions — make it much easier to build confidence and momentum.”
“If, by working with us, cellular in a partner’s portfolio feels more structured than situational, and more predictable than opportunistic, then we’ll have done our job.”
The appointment reflects Pangea’s continued investment in the UK channel and its partner-only model, as cellular IoT connectivity becomes an increasingly central part of how partners deliver resilient, distributed services.
To learn more visit: www.pangea-group.net
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