Networx3 is celebrating 18 years in business in style – with 10 new hirings and three new electric fleet cars on order.
The firm was founded by mechanical engineer Ian Ashworth on November 10, 2003, from a study in a Burnley semi.
From those humble beginnings as a one-man start up it has grown into one of the most-trusted blown fibre optic cable installation companies in the UK – and expanded into drone inspections and surveys.
Networx3 was born when Ian was working as an engineer for a fibre optic cabling company as an employee.
Because of his eye for detail and high standard of workmanship the company’s client – a UK police force – asked him to set up on his own so they could employ him directly.
Working alongside his wife Julie, who ran the Networx3 office, Ian steadily built the business up from a two-person operation.
By 2006 the firm had moved into new bigger premises, expanded into civil engineering, had four full time engineers on the books and a client list of emergency services, government departments and power companies.
Fast forward to 2021 and industry-leading Networx3 has grown its workforce to double digits with a hiring spree of 10 new recruits this year alone.
Its fleet of work vans, diggers, quad bikes, three tonne dumper truck, 4x4s will soon be supplemented by three new electric Kia cars for engineers to use nationwide.
Founded in 2017 Networx3 UAV continues to grow with drone work on wind turbines, listed buildings and reservoirs just some of the varied jobs it takes on.
The Networx3 team includes certified drone pilots, engineers and ecologists and their work includes drone operations and blown fibre optic cabling infrastructure for critical infrastructure sectors, mobile phone giants and renewable energy utility companies.
The firm is the one of the biggest installers of blown fibre optic cable in the UK and in 2011 installed the biggest blown fibre optic cable network in Europe – in Manchester.
Ian said: “Networx3 has come a long way since that humble semi in Burnley. If you’d have told me back then where we’d be right now I wouldn’t have believed you. We started out in 2003 with one client and we still have that client to this day – which speaks for itself.
“We get almost all of our work through word of mouth recommendation. We’re not the cheapest but we do a top quality honest job and that’s why clients stick with Networx3.”
