Looking back over 10 years: A Decade of Connection, Choice, and Change
A reflection by Darren Smith, Founder
When I was younger, I was told I couldn’t.
Not by a competitor, not by a market analyst — but by an optician.
When I was at school, I took a colour blindness test. The optician bluntly told me I’d failed and rattled off a list of all the things I could never do.
It wasn’t a great message to receive — but it gave me something invaluable: a checklist. I made it my mission to tick off every single “impossible” thing on it. Fly a plane? Done. Work with lasers? Done. Build a career in computing? Done.
That stubborn streak is probably why Opious exists today.
From Frustration to Foundation
Before Opious, I was Head of IT for what became Amazon Logistics. My role was to support the rapid global expansion of their physical infrastructure — often with impossibly tight deadlines.
The biggest blocker? Connectivity. Fibre lead times were months long, but operational deadlines were measured in days. We couldn’t wait.
So, I started looking for alternatives. Microwave technology became our lifeline — delivering reliable connectivity in just 20 days. That experience sparked an idea:
What if there was a company that wasn’t tied to one technology or one carrier, but instead focused solely on finding the right solution for the customer?
That was the seed. And in 2015, Opious took root.
The Opious Way
From day one, we’ve been 100% technology and carrier-agnostic. Our role is simple: find the optimal connectivity solution for each customer and deliver it with honesty, transparency, and speed.
In the early days, we partnered with UK microwave WISPs. Over time, we expanded into fixed line, satellite, mobile data, and now private 5G — building a portfolio of over 200 carriers.
Today, our work spans the UK, mainland Europe, and the US. We’ve launched sites in remote fields, boosted cellular coverage inside concrete fortresses, and designed rapid deployment kits that have kept global operations running when others couldn’t.
A Project That Still Makes Me Proud
One of our proudest moments came when Amazon faced the prospect of delaying multiple site launches due to fibre installation delays — a setback that could cost hundreds of thousands of pounds per day.
We developed a fully managed rapid deployment service, bundling together 5G routers, multi-network SIMs, and Starlink satellite units into a single, resilient package. During peak activity, our team rolled out more than 150 of these solutions across three continents.
It worked — and it’s still part of their operational playbook today.
The People Who Make It Possible
Opious is not just about technology — it’s about people.
I’m surrounded by a team of intelligent, motivated, and inspiring individuals who share the same values that shaped Opious: integrity, agility, and doing what’s right for the customer.
We’ve built a virtuous circle with our suppliers too — being their best customer so they can be our customers’ best supplier. It’s the kind of ecosystem where everyone wins.
The Next Chapter
The future is full of possibilities.
Private 5G is opening doors to solutions we couldn’t imagine a decade ago — from enabling remote crane operations at ports to improving safety in mining and healthcare.
Wherever technology goes next, our promise stays the same: we’ll keep finding the right solution, without limits or bias, and we’ll keep doing it with honesty and transparency.
A Final Thank You
To our customers: thank you for trusting us with your most critical projects.
To our suppliers: thank you for making the impossible possible.
To the Opious team: thank you for turning challenges into solutions every single day.
And to that optician — thank you for the checklist. We’re still ticking boxes.
Here’s to the next decade of connection without limits.