I run a merged operator's systems on the rule that a customer should never be the first to discover that we changed something underneath them.
I am group chief information officer of Lonmara Communications, a privately owned Irish operator formed in March 2023 when Tolvarra Broadband, a cable company, merged with Lonmara Mobile. We serve 1.42 million mobile subscriptions, 436,000 broadband homes and 248,000 pay-television homes, and reported €1.18 billion of revenue in 2025. I am responsible for business and operational support systems, enterprise applications, data platforms, cybersecurity and IT operations, with 410 employees, about 560 contractors supplied by integrators and €238 million of IT spending last year. I report to our chief executive, Ciara Mulvagh, and to the board's audit and risk committee every quarter.
I grew up in Liège and studied engineering at the Institut polytechnique de Marchevelle. My first job, in 1997, was writing rating rules for billing software at Quarmont Systems in Brussels, just as Belgian and French telephone markets opened to competition. I then spent twelve years at Kervana Integration Services, first in Brussels and from 2008 in Dublin, where I ran a billing migration for Ardenmoy Telecom that sent 31,000 wrong bills in its first cycle. In 2014 I crossed to the client side at Brennoch Business Communications, and in 2019 I became chief information officer of Tolvarra.
Four practical questions take up most of my attention. How do we put two operators' customers on one billing platform without any of them paying for our convenience? How much of the knowledge of how we charge can safely sit with an integrator? What should our board see to oversee its duties under the EU's NIS2 directive? Which old systems should be switched off rather than kept running in case someone needs them? My answers have cost us time and money, and in one case 7,900 customers paid for a mistake of mine before we put it right.
One billing platform, tested against each customer's own history
We moved 1.01 million mobile accounts onto our convergent billing platform in sixteen waves between September 2024 and March 2026. After the third wave overcharged 7,900 customers, every first bill was compared with that account's previous three; 2,140 were held and 530 corrected before issue.
Billing knowledge brought back in-house
Between 2024 and 2025 we created 138 rating, billing and catalogue roles inside Lonmara instead of buying the work per change request. The time from an approved tariff design to customers being able to buy it fell from 41 working days to 12.
Systems retired, not kept for comfort
By September 2026 we had switched off 71 of the 158 applications the two companies brought to the merger, including the mobile side's 2006 billing and prepaid charging platforms, saving €19.6 million a year in licences, hosting and support.
Privileged access counted by person
In 2024, 1,140 named individuals working for us and 63 suppliers could change our configuration, billing rules or bulk customer data. At June 2026 the figure was 312 people across 21 suppliers, reported to the audit and risk committee each quarter.
Current focus
I am working on the last large consolidation: moving the cable network's provisioning and fault-management systems onto the platforms the mobile network already uses, without disrupting technicians in the field. I am also preparing the 2027 renewal of our main integrator contract, which will be the first written around the in-house capability we now have.
Conversations I welcome
Another executive appointment is not something I am seeking. From 2027 I would consider one non-executive appointment outside telecommunications, ideally on a risk or technology committee, with the consent of our chief executive and shareholders and after a conflict review. I accept a small number of speaking and peer-exchange invitations each year.