When Nationwide Cellular Fit (now known as Chameleon Codewing Ltd) was founded in 1989, the UK mobile phone network was in its infancy and largely dominated by Racal Vodac (which would later become Vodafone) and Cellnet (now known as O2). During the early days of this technological revolution, an enthusiastic entrepreneur (and co-founder of Nationwide Cellular Fit), Philip Stanley, was presented with a unique proposition.
In an era when mobile phone equipment was large and cumbersome, taking up a large part of the space available in the average car boot, Philip was tasked with installing these devices into vehicles. True to his nature and the principle we stand by today, he said ‘yes’. It was a formidable challenge at the time, finding and setting up 60 national engineers with no contracts in place. Still, it set in motion the birth of Chameleon, propelling us towards becoming the well-respected and renowned provider of fleet installations and telematics solutions that we are 35 years later. We were first engaged in a major project involving 5,000 installs for British Gas into all types of vehicles nationwide, which we successfully completed using our network of skilled, mobile engineers. This was closely followed by another contract for the electricity boards involving 10,000 installs (65% installed outside of normal office hours). This demonstrated that we were capable of more than just basic fleet installations, showcasing our adaptability and competence in tackling complex jobs.
As mobile phones evolved from luxury items to essential tools for professionals, we expanded our services to meet the growing demand. The market expanded from its initial core of luxury vehicles, with mobile phones becoming indispensable for directors, sales reps, truck drivers, and other field operatives. We began installing them into fleets of cars, vans, and trucks for two of the four mobile phone networks, carrying out 6,000 cellular installations per month. As ever, our willingness to embrace change enabled us to navigate any fluctuations in the market with great success.
This helped with our ability to deliver quality installation services across the UK. We rapidly grew our team of mobile engineers to 120, who were strategically located across the country to provide our world-class installation solutions wherever they were needed. These remote engineers were supported by our dedicated project coordinators and support team based in our 20,000 sq ft head office in Colchester, Essex.
The early 2000s saw significant advancements in mobile technology. As Bluetooth phone kits started to become standard in cars and handset manufacturers developed devices that could be self-installed, the traditional installation market faced a downturn.
A couple of years later, the telematics revolution began to transform the fleet management sector. Basic tracking systems emerged, enabling fleet operators to monitor their vehicles and engineers in real time. Early telematics kits also arrived. These rudimentary systems proved to be game changers.
Since then, our commitment to delivering exceptional results and exceeding customer expectations has helped us maintain many key relationships with customers and suppliers and seen us complete close to two million on-the-road installations to date. In doing so, we have expanded our resources to offer our clients full project management and warehousing services that help take the hassle out of large equipment roll-outs.
Philip Stanley still plays an active management role, but the principles of saying ‘yes’ to embrace change remain deeply entrenched in our operations. Under the stewardship of an experienced and skilled management team with over 100 years of service working for Chameleon between them, we have now refined our focus to concentrate exclusively on the mobile installation and servicing of telematics and more complex vehicle technologies like DVS & PSS for customers across the UK. Our ultimate vision is to move into Europe.
We have worked our way from our humble beginnings in the early days of mobile phone networks to our current position as a leading provider of installation and vehicle technology solutions. We continue to look to the future, working with our customers and vehicle equipment providers, old and new, to deliver high-quality installation and servicing solutions for many years to come.