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now in spanish national court with judge Pedraz
yes, very sad..
Special Report - Web of lies: How a Spanish tech star fooled the world
By Julien Toyer, Carlos Ruano and Andres Gonzalez
MADRID Thu Aug 14, 2014 6:41am EDT
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/14/us-spain-gowex-ceo-specialreport-idUSKBN0GE0R420140814?feedType=RSS&feedName=specialReports&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&dlvrit=354887
(Reuters) - For nearly 10 years, Spanish internet company Let’s Gowex SA said it was making money by providing public wi-fi in cities around the world. Most of the contracts, it now emerges, never existed.
Instead Gowex chief Jenaro Garcia Martin used a series of tricks to fool company employees, investors and regulators. The discovery of the deceit last month crippled the company and undermined credibility in Spain’s stock market just as the country recovers from a four-year recession.
The 46-year old entrepreneur has been charged with financial crimes, including false accounting. Spain’s judicial system does not require a formal plea and Garcia Martin has not given one. But testifying before Spain's High Court on July 14, he admitted manipulating the company’s accounts and explained how he used a network of about 20 shell companies to generate a paper trail of fake business and fake contracts that he used to raise capital.
Interviews with the former tech star, Gowex employees and regulators, as well as court documents, show how some of the dodges behind his deception were surprisingly basic.
To help cover his tracks, Garcia Martin reported fake revenues from shell companies owned by relatives and his housekeeper among others, he told the court. Former Gowex staff told Reuters that he paid taxes on profits the company never made. Once, one ex-worker said, Spanish officials wanted to check a project where Gowex claimed to have provided public wi-fi using four-wheel drive cars. Garcia Martin used the Internet in his own car to make the project seem real.
“My goal was that within two or three years, when we could make the jump to the Nasdaq, that it would all come together," Garcia Martin told the court, according to audio and video recordings reviewed by Reuters. Garcia Martin said his falsifications were initially aimed at trying to cover up for losses incurred after making overdue payments to another firm that had sued Gowex for unpaid bills.
Now Gowex, once valued at more than $2 billion, has filed for bankruptcy; an investigating judge is examining if it has moved funds abroad.
The rise and collapse of what was once one of Spain’s most celebrated start-ups is an exceptional chapter in Europe’s faltering attempts to claim a share of a global technology industry largely in the hands of the United States and Asia.
Gowex isn’t the biggest corporate collapse of late in Spain, a country hard-hit by Europe’s debt crisis. Several big firms have gone bust, and former executives of Pescanova SA, a fishing firm, are under investigation after the company said it had faked its accounts for years. But Gowex resonates because it had so many international investors and clients.
In addition to the criminal investigations into Garcia Martin and his wife and cousin, the court is investigating Gowex’s former chief financial officer and an external auditor who oversaw the accounts for years. Investor groups are considering class action suits to claw back some of their lost money. Stock market regulator CNMV said it had properly conducted its oversight, which does not include assessing a company’s audited accounts.
The story is also one of ambition and personal loss. Garcia Martin says his youth was marked by family tragedy which fueled his dreams. Even now, though the judge told him he could face 10 years in jail, he believes he can become a successful global entrepreneur.
“I regret the damage that I have caused pursuing my dream,” Garcia Martin told Reuters at the end of July.
He knew he would be spending the next few years in jail, he said, but the experience of confinement would help him bounce back. “I know I have to pay for it in prison and I seek no clemency. I continue to be the master of my destiny and for this my priority is to repair this damage and this is my next great project.”
SPECTACULAR GROWTH
Garcia Martin's professional resume is peppered with inconsistencies. A slim, energetic father of two, he wrote – on his LinkedIn page, in biographies used at conferences and in financial documents used for Gowex’s public listing and capital raising rounds – that he took a Masters in Law at Madrid’s Complutense University in 1992. Records from Madrid’s Autonoma University, however, show Garcia Martin studied a law degree there until 1993. He says he worked in “import-export” for Smith Barney in 1993 to 1995, and almost concurrently (1992 to 1996) as a financial analyst for Prudential Securities. He also says he was a strategic consultant at Spain’s telecom firm Telefonica from 1995 to 1998. The companies all declined to comment.
Co-workers say Garcia Martin spoke openly about a car accident that killed his parents and brother in 1986. The death register in Spain is confidential, but he and other family members placed a newspaper advertisement the following year to mark the accident’s anniversary.
Garcia Martin says he broke 24 bones in the crash and spent weeks in a wheelchair. When he left hospital, he began supporting himself by importing cars from Germany. He says he was proud of having bought his first share in Telefonica when he was 14 and of spending hours selling music tapes at Madrid’s El Rastro flea market.
On many occasions he told business contacts and employees how his accident pushed him to aim for the top.
Garcia Martin founded the firm in 1999. Known as Iber-X until 2008, it started as a telecommunications broker that provided a place for companies to buy and sell voice minutes and bandwidth capacity. For several years, the firm did relatively well, employees said. As a non-listed company, it was under no obligation to release financial statements publicly.
But Garcia Martin needed capital. According to his testimony in the July 14 court hearing, he began to misrepresent the real state of the firm’s accounts when a lawsuit knocked the company into a “downward spiral”. Neo Sky, a telecoms company, had sued the-then Iber-X for payment of 142,334.33 euros in telecommunications circuits rent in 2004. Garcia Martin's firm – now called Gowex – was ordered to pay compensation, which he said cost it cash and customers.
Garcia Martin registered several firms and presented them, according to his court testimony, as clients in Gowex’s books. Among them were two companies administered by Gowex’s chief financial officer Fernando Martinez Marugan, according to filings from Spain’s company registry office. The shell companies acted as fake customers on contracts that Gowex could show to lenders, investors, and government officials who signed off on subsidies.
"Basically, we started with three companies and what we do is: One company bills to Gowex, Gowex bills to another company and the third company bills to the previous one. It is a triangle," Garcia Martin told the court. “Basically, the structure enabled us to make capital increases."
By 2010, the year Gowex made its much-touted debut on Spain’s alternative market, the Mercado Alternativo Bursatil (MAB), the web of shell companies had grown substantially.
The previous year Gowex had reported revenues of 35 million euros and a net income of 2.9 million. But Spain’s property bust and the growing eurozone debt crisis were hurting the wider economy. As Gowex prepared to go public, its international competitors Boingo, Towerstream and iPass turned losses.
Gowex pushed on, selling 18 percent of the company for 6 million euros. The shares jumped 20 percent on their first day of trading.
Some investors and analysts later expressed skepticism about the company’s performance. In a note in March 2013, NFinance Securities analyst Pierre Schang said he was “disturbed” that Gowex was turning big profits while competitors were registering losses or much smaller profits. Schang did not answer a request to comment further.
Others questioned the firm’s amateurish corporate structure, with a board composed of Garcia Martin, his wife, Florencia Mate, and CFO Marugan.
"My wife did not come to the board meetings,” Garcia Martin told the court; he said he used her to sign for shell companies that he bought in Wyoming.
Mate and Marugan have both been charged in relation with the accounting deception. Florencia Mate told the High Court she was unaware of the scheme, while Marugan said he was part of it but had no other option than to execute orders because he feared Garcia Martin. Both ignored multiple requests for comment.
Despite the general economic gloom in Spain, Gowex appeared to grow fast. Its reported revenues jumped more than five-fold, profits rose 10 times to 29 million euros, and its market value skyrocketed as Garcia Martin traveled the world. He attended conferences, met investors in France, Britain, the United States and China, and won investments from funds such as JP Morgan Asset Management, Lazard Asset Management, Santander Asset Management and The Vanguard Group.
At his court hearing, former CFO Marugan said only about 10 percent of the company’s revenues were real.
UP-TO-DATE WITH TAX
In its IPO documents, Gowex said its nine biggest clients accounted for revenue of 26.3 million euros – 91 percent of the total. Six of those firms – worth a combined 24.5 million euros in revenue – were actually linked to Marugan or trustees used by Garcia Martin.
The lies continued after the listing. Garcia Martin and Marugan would routinely misrepresent the size – and in one case even the existence – of business deals, they said in their court testimony.
For example, Gowex said in 2011 it had signed a 12 million euro contract to provide wi-fi in public places in Buenos Aires, including the city’s underground network. While Gowex and Buenos Aires authorities did have talks over a potential deal, the transaction was never agreed and both the municipality and the Subte metro company told Reuters they never signed any deal and had no knowledge of Gowex’s announcement.
Gowex also claimed to have contracts in Paris, Madrid and the Spanish cities of Gerona and Aviles. There were deals, but officials in the municipalities and public transport authorities of these four cities say that it was Gowex that paid them, either a fee in order to be allowed to promote its name on trains and buses (Paris and Madrid), or for the right to run a wi-fi service and charge for advertising on it (Gerona and Aviles).
The firm said in 2013 that it had installed 1,953 free wi-fi hotspots in New York City in what it called a landmark deal in its expansion. But the New York City Economic Development Corporation said the agreement to provide coverage in areas of the city such as Flatiron and Roosevelt Island was worth just $245,000, a fraction of Gowex’s overall reported revenue that year.
Such contracts enabled Gowex to seek bank loans and qualify for official subsidies. It used that cash to pay salaries, running costs, and taxes.
Gowex paid 10.6 million euros in taxes in 2013, or 27 percent of its reported profits. “Jenaro would always be up to date with taxes,” said a person who worked with Garcia Martin for several years.
In 2006, that person said, Gowex received public money to develop a new system of Internet-connected four-wheel drive cars that would bring wi-fi to Spain’s most remote villages. The vehicles would be used where other technologies were too expensive to deploy. Garcia Martin received a subsidy from the industry ministry for the project, but never assigned any money to the work.
When inspectors came to check the job, Garcia Martin had a basic connection mounted onto his own car, a Nissan Murano, and turned up in that, a former employee said. He told inspectors the car was one of three the company had developed. In fact, there were none. Garcia Martin did not answer a request for comment on this.
“MOST IMPORTANT PERSON”
In the end, it was not Spanish regulators who uncovered the deception, but activist U.S. investor Gotham City Research LLC. On July 1, Gotham City said Gowex accounts were false and set a target price of zero on the stock.
In two days, the company’s market value dropped 870 million euros.
Immediately after the Gotham City report, Garcia Martin was defiant. He said he would sue the firm and hire a “prestigious” auditor to show the company’s accounts were accurate. He also kept pushing for more loans.
But on the morning of July 4, Gowex’s bank accounts were blocked according to a confidential document accompanying the bankruptcy filing seen by Reuters.
That morning, Garcia Martin went for a morning jog. He wrote on his Twitter account: “Gooooood morning Madrid!!! All of us are choosed (sic) as the most important person to change our World. We are the one in charge of that mission.”
In the office, he held a town hall meeting about the Gotham report, an event which was filmed by one of his employees. “I can guarantee you that the company will not disappear,” he promised. Towards the middle of his six-minute speech, he opened his backpack and pulled out metal rods that he said had been inside his body for years after the car accident that killed his family.
He waved the rods before his team. He could overcome any challenge, he said.
(Additional reporting by Tomas Gonzalez Cobos, Jesus Aguado, Jose Elias Rodriguez and Sarah White in Madrid, Gwenaelle Barzic and Leila Abboud in Paris, Eliana Raszewski in Buenos Aires, Robin Respaut in San Francisco, Edward Krudy and Dan Wilchins in New York, Marina Lopes in Washington and Maria Sheahan in Frankfurt; Writing by Alessandra Galloni; Edited by Sara Ledwith)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/14/us-spain-gowex-ceo-specialreport-idUSKBN0GE0R420140814?feedType=RSS&feedName=specialReports&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&dlvrit=354887
financials may have been false for ten years, and no authority or controlling institution has been able to detect it.
yes, a great scandal for all of us..
Over the weekend, Spanish company Let's Gowex, which provides free WiFi for public spaces like malls and town centers, filed for involuntary insolvency. The company's CEO, Genaro Garcia, also resigned after telling the company's board that its financials over at least the last four years were falsified.
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=104048723
gowex in chicago tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/techno...2961.story
Free Wi-Fi service Gowex arrives in Chicago
Company activates 450 free Wi-Fi hotspots from the Loop to Lakeview
By Robert Channick Tribune staff reporter
5:55 a.m. CDT, May 23, 2014
A new free Wi-Fi service has popped up in downtown Chicago.
Gowex, a Madrid-based telecommunications company, launched a local network this week with 450 Wi-Fi hot spots, covering neighborhoods from the Loop to Lakeview with its ad-supported service.
The rollout is part of a broader initiative by Spain’s largest pure-play Wi-Fi operator, which is looking to expand into 600 cities worldwide by 2018.
“The vision of our founder, Jenaro Garcia, is Wi-Fi is like water,” said Carlos Pujol, the New York-based CEO of Gowex North America. “It should be made available to the widest population.”
Gowex made its first foray into the U.S. in March 2013, launching in New York with nearly 2,000 Wi-Fi hot spots. It has since expanded to San Francisco and Miami, making Chicago the fourth U.S. city to offer the service.
The Chicago service employs 450 access points on buildings throughout the downtown and North Side, according to Pujol. Coverage extends up to 150 feet from each site. Users can access the service through any mobile device using the Gowex app.
Gowex monetizes the free Wi-Fi service through mobile advertising that can deliver geographically-targeted banner ads. It also contracts with cellular providers, using its network capacity to handle data overflow, according to Pujol.
Founded in 1999, Gowex is a publicly-traded company listed on France's Alternext. The company had revenues of about $249 million in 2013, up 60 percent year-over-year, according to Pujol.
The company is looking to bring its service to the 40 largest cities in North America, but isn’t done building out in Chicago, according to Pujol.
“It’s not all we want to do in Chicago,” said Pujol, who joined Gowex on May 1. “We would like to be in transit, we would like to be in venues and we also would to extend the coverage throughout the city.”
Gowex has a long way to go to catch up with Comcast, which has created more than 340,000 hot spots in Chicago through an initiative that uses home modems to send separate public Wi-Fi signals. Comcast is projected to reach 8 million hot spots nationwide by the end of the year.
“It’s nice that Comcast is offering Wi-Fi, but we would contend that is not for free, because you are a customer,” Pujol said. “Our mission as a company is to be able to provide free Wi-Fi with the sustainable model we have created.”
rchannick@tribune.com
GOWEX 2013 net profit: €28.9 million, an increase of 70%
29/04/2014
Solid year results on growth and profitability. Two big partnerships signed between We2 and two leader operators. Pipeline business for 2014: almost 2 times higher than in 2013
Madrid, 29 April 2014-. GOWEX (GOW-MAB, ALGOW-NYSE Alternext, LGWXY-OTC Market), a leading company in the creation of Wireless Smart Cities® announces today the publication of the consolidated results for 2013, with an generalized increase in each and every financial indicator and exceeding the income expectations, paying off the investments made in new technologies, business areas and services.
GOWEX CEO, Jenaro García, highlighted the positive result of these figures and pointed out that “during 2013 GOWEX strengthened its model and created a global need around its product. The growth of our recurring revenue, the projects we gain along the way and our solid leading position enables us to sustain more and more our goal of achieving 600 Wireless Smart Cities® before 2018?.
Let´s GOWEX S.A. (M€)
31.12.2013
31.12.2012
Variation
2013 /2012
Revenue Results
182,6
114,3
+60%
Gross Margin
% over the total Revenue
94,3
51,6%
55,6
48,6%
+70%
Employee costs
4,3
2,8
+56%
Other operating costs
40,9
26,9
+52%
EBITDA
53,0
30,8
+72%
% over the total Revenue
28,4%
26,9%
Depreciations
0,9
-2,3
(61%)
Depreciation Expenses
13,3
6,8
+96%
EBIT
% over the total Revenue
38,8
21,0%
21,8
19,1%
+78%
Financial results
0,6
0,4
ns
Result before tax
39,4
22,2
+78%
Taxes
10,6
5,2
+104%
Result after taxes
% over the total Revenue
28,9
15,8%
17,0
14,9%
+70%
Revenue’s expectations have been over passed, 69% is recurrent
After €182, 6 million of sales, GOWEX reaches higher revenue than expected. In 2013, the Company signed two agreements with ZTE (China), AT&T (USA), PCCW (Hong-Kong), Atlanteam (France), deploying the biggest network in New York and, finally, launching a revolutionary service: We2 Social WiFi.
The international sales have progressed due to GOWEX renown, reaching a sales’ total of 67% in 2013, versus 51% at the end of 2012. Almost all the Group’s growth was organic, except for the petty part regarding Ideup’s acquisition for the Mobile department.
The margin progress faster than the revenue
In 2013, the management indicators have progressed faster than activity under the gross margin growth (+70%), improving the equipment costs and the good management of the expenses.
In this way, the EBITDA reaches €53, 0 million, which corresponds to 29, 0% on the total revenue, compared to the 26, 9% in 2012. The application of results (Ebit) was established at €38, 8 million (21% of the total revenue), growing a 78%, even with the amortization expenses, following the network’s powerful growth during the 2S 2013.
The corporation taxes, €10, 6 million, have doubled over the financial period. At the end, the net profit was established at €28, 9 million, a 15, and 8% of the total revenue.
€ 30, 5 million of net liquid assets at the end of 2013, after important investments
Fixed assets increased from € 17.1 million to € 54.7 million during the year. Thus, GOWEX reached at the end of 2013, € 95.2 million in equity and cash position, and net cash of € 30.5 million.
For the next stockholders’ meeting, the Administration Board will propose the payment of a dividend equivalent to 2012’s. That is a minimum of 0,013 euro per stock.
Doubling goals for 2018: 600 Wireless Smart Cities®
In December 2013, We2 Social WiFi was launch, offering retailers, companies and final users a social experience to share their private network. We2 will accelerate GOWEX’s network growth with two partnerships with leader operators that have been signed and several negotiations are ongoing.
Meanwhile, GOWEX Wireless network growth will be concentrated in areas of Latin America, United States and emerging markets by strengthening its presence especially through its policy of co-investment.
Strong ambitions and an advanced business pipeline define GOWEX’s goals in achieving 600 Wireless Smart Cities® in the world for 2018.
- See more at: http://www.gowex.com/en/gowex-2013-net-profit-e28-9-million-an-increase-of-70-2/#sthash.ylCdXMH4.dpuf
GOWEX exceeds its turnover forecast and reaches 182.8 million euros in 2013
20/03/2014
img_7059-2_0
GOWEX has undergone organic growth of 60%: from €114.3 million in 2012 to €182.8 million in 2013. Both international sales and recurring revenue have enhanced their growth and consolidation.The “Network Effect”, the entrance of new operators and contracts in cities such as New York and San Francisco are the main reasons for this growth
Madrid, March 20th, 2014. GOWEX (GOW-MAB, ALGOW-NYSE Alternext, LGWXY-OTC Market), the leading firm in creating Wireless Smart Cities®, has just publicised its Preliminary Consolidated Sales Figures for 2013 which are more than outstanding, a reflection of the good progress of this company specialising in creating Wi-Fi Cities. In 2013, GOWEX’s turnover totalled 182.8 million euros, growth of 60% compared with 2012's figure.
GOWEX once again exceeds its own forecasts
This updated sales figure for GOWEX exceeds the company’s own forecasts for 2013 by 7.53%: from the figure of 170 million euros projected by Jenaro García’s team to the final figure of 182.8 million euros.
This figure consolidates the upward trend observed in the company’s sales for the last few years: €66.7 million in 2011, €114.3 million in 2012 and €182.8 million last year. Great achievements such as those seen in Francisco and New York, the creation of We2 as the definitive boost for Social Wi-Fi and alliances with giants such as ZTE, AT&T and PCCW are just some of GOWEX’s accomplishments in 2013 endorsed by these figures.
Cuadro ventas 2013
Wireless Smart Cities®
Particularly of note is the development of the Wireless Smart Cities® business, GOWEX’s flagship product that has transformed rapidly in a short space of time; going from a supply-driven product to one in great demand, especially among key cities that want to incorporate smart services quickly and effectively.
Thanks to this, the generation of recurring revenue from users, councils, advertisers, operators, associations, etc. has led to significant growth in turnover in the last year.
Turnover by business line
‘GOWEX Wireless’, the Group’s main business line, achieved a total turnover of 157.2 million euros in 2013, an increase of 73% on 2012. Its share of the total revenue has also risen to 86%.
The turnover for the Group’s historical businesses totalled 25.6 million euros, up by 9% on the previous year with a 14% share of the total sales. This figure, similar to the company’s forecasts, is in line with the standard figures for a mature market.
- See more at: http://www.gowex.com/en/gowex-exceeds-its-turnover-forecast-and-reaches-182-8-million-euros-in-2013-2/#sthash.gpzm0BbS.dpuf
GOWEX WiFi Free, a first step to provide the best infrastructure to Dubai before the EXPO 2020
22/04/2014
DAFZA-1
GOWEX and DAFZA (Dubai Airport Free Zone Authority), an independent economic zone established in the Emirate, will provide WiFi Access and smart services to the most important business district in the Middle East.With more than 1.600 international companies in its territory, the DAFZA contributes an 8% to the Emirate capital and has grown 42% between 2012 and 2013
Dubai, April 22nd 2014-. GOWEX (GOW-MAB, ALGOW-NYSE Alternext LGWXY-OTC Market) leader Company in creating Wireless Smart Cities® and the Dubai Airport Freezone Authority (DAFZA), a free economic zone at Dubai, have reached an agreement to transform the economic zone into a Wireless Smart City®, integrating free WiFi connectivity and smart services in the whole territory. The agreement signature has been possible thank to the alliance between DAFZA, GOWEX and THTC, GOWEX’ strategic partner in the region and the local engineering leader in Dubai.
The development phase is divided in three. The first one will be running next May 15th and will allow citizens and machines (M2M) to connect. This project is framed inside GOWEX’s worldwide strategy in developing Wireless Smart Cities®. In addition, “Dubai Airport Freezone Authority” boosts to provide infrastructure in the Emirate’s capital before the DUBAI EXPO 2020.
Nowadays, according to Financial Times, DAFZA is the most important ‘Free Economic Zone’ in the world, because it hosts more than 1.600 companies from 5 different continents and contributes with an 8% to Dubai’s whole business. This Global Leader Project, will open Dubai and their citizens as a Global Capital Connected to NYC, San Francisco, Paris, Madrid or Dublin and more than 84 big cities of the World, that works in same Platform.
“For GOWEX, it’s prideful to work with DAFZA and THTC, transforming the zone in a Wireless Smart City. Dubai is getting ready for the DUBAI EXPO 2020, which will be the most spectacular in history, with any doubt. And we will contribute with our project in a relevant way”, point out Jenaro García, CEO of GOWEX.
Free WiFi, the first step to become a Smart City
Dubai Airport Freezone Authority will count with Free WiFi inside its buildings thanks to the deployment of more than 500 hotspots. Those will also be installed in urban transport for an Internet connection in motion. Workers and DAFZA neighbors will have an Internet freemium access, with a download speed up to 1Mbps for everybody and payment rates for those who would need a faster connection.
In the other hand, not only citizens and DAFZA workers will profit an Internet connection but the project considers to stir in smart services that will work for free thank to the big wireless infrastructure created in the zone.
802.11ac
Noteworthy that this is the first time creating a network this significant with an 802.11ac (GigaBit WiFi) technology, which standard was finally approved on January 2014. This will improve users and services interconnections.
On its effort to improve, GOWEX has got ready its systems in order to adopt the new standard, helping transfer rates, and allowing fluidity and a faster connection with a better user experience thanks to its 1 Gb/s speed.
Up
- See more at: http://www.gowex.com/en/gowex-wifi-free-a-first-step-to-provide-the-best-infrastructure-to-dubai-before-the-expo-2020-2/#sthash.FS8n2jvB.dpuf
Carlos Pujol, former CEO of Cemusa USA – recently acquired by JCDecaux -, joins GOWEX to lead its expansion across North America
23/04/2014
Carlos Pujol_photo_3 13#3D6 (2)
Carlos joins GOWEX as CEO of North America, with responsibility for expanding the group’s projects and alliances in the region. GOWEX already provides Wireless Smart City® services in the US cities of New York and San Francisco, as well as in more than 80 cities world wide
Madrid, April 23rd, 2014-. GOWEX (GOW-MAB, ALGOW-NYSE Alternext, LGWXY-OTC Market), the World’s leading company in creating Wireless Smart Cities® announced the recent appointment of Carlos Pujol – Former CEO for Cemusa USA, recently acquired by JCDecaux – as new CEO of GOWEX North America (USA and Canada).
After twelve years at Cemusa, and following the JCDecaux acquisition, Carlos Pujol is very excited to be joining the GOWEX team. He has expressed “”GOWEX growth prospects in the United States and throughout North America are significant. I’m delighted to be part of this project that benefits both the people and companies alike. This is an extremely exciting and challenging opportunity for me”.
The most important milestones in his career took place while he was the head of Cemusa in the USA. At this time, he managed the New York City contract to provide and commercialize the advertising furniture, bus stop shelters, newsstands and automatic toilets installed in the five boroughs of the Big Apple. Cemusa was recently acquired by one of the world’s leading outdoor advertising companies, JCDecaux
As new GOWEX CEO for North America he will be the responsible for expanding the projects and partnerships with companies, governmental agencies, and other local authorities, to run and implement the successful GOWEX Wireless Smart Cities® model. GOWEX already provides Wireless Smart City services in two major U.S. cities, New York and San Francisco, with excellent results in the network utilization and advertisers participation. Carlos’s experience and relationships in the outdoor advertising market will prove invaluable to GOWEX as it seeks to expand its Wireless Smart City® model further in North America.
“His extensive knowledge of the advertising industry, his deep experience in North America environment, and his big enthusiasm for the GOWEX project, have been crucial to appointing Carlos as the new CEO of our company for North America. Carlos will help us thrive and grow in one of the most important markets around the world” said Jenaro García, President and CEO of GOWEX
New Challenge for Carlos Pujol
Born in New York, he has a Major in Law from Universidad Complutense, and holds an MBA from the University of Illinois. In his professional background, the new CEO of GOWEX North America began at Sol Meliá Hotel Group as Deputy Director for Hotel Expansion, and subsequently, joined SGS as Corporate Director for Tourism. After ten years of experience, he joined Cemusa in 2002, and since 2009 until the recent acquisition of the group by JCDecaux has the CEO for the USA. Furthermore, Carlos is the President of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in the USA, and member of the Board of Directors of the Municipal Art Society of New York, the Ballet Hispanico of New York, and the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA).
- See more at: http://www.gowex.com/en/carlos-pujol-former-ceo-of-cemusa-usa-recently-acquired-by-jcdecaux-joins-gowex-to-lead-its-expansion-across-north-america/#sthash.HX1pLs8a.dpuf
We2, part of the GOWEX global Wi-Fi project,, the new and innovative line for merchants and small business, creates strategic alliances with telecommunication operators in 300 major cities.
We2 Social WiFi will multiply the range of free WiFi reaching urban and residential areas with an objective: to boost the interaction between people, businesses and the city itself.
We2 will allow users to share a WiFi connection through social interactions between individuals and nearby shops.
With We2, the Smart Citizen is born. He or she will manage connectivity in a smart way that allows everyone to interact.
Advantages
Propel the Wireless Smart Cities® growth worldwide.
Telecoms operators will stand out with a pioneering initiative aimed at the end user.
Significant optimization of operator investments, offloading data traffic to the WiFi network.
New stream of revenue for operators, based on GOWEX ‘successful monetization model.
Propel revenue growth for operators, user pool, network coverage, and capability.
- See more at: http://www.gowex.com/en/we2_en/#sthash.r9luLofb.dpuf
Miami, third GOWEX WiFi City in the United States and new strategic city at the US market
24/04/2014
The 5,5 million people at its metropolitan area and the 12 million tourists that visit the city will have GOWEX Free WiFi connection, like cities as New York, Madrid, Dubai or Paris. Miami is a priority city for GOWEX, being a strategic commercial link between US and Latin America
Miami, April 24th 2014-. GOWEX (GOW-MAB, ALGOW-NYSE Alternext LGWXY-OTC Market), leader Company in creating Wireless Smart Cities®, keeps growing in the United States and adds its third ‘WiFi City’ in the US: Miami. This new agreement will position Miami as a strategic city for GOWEX in the country and will open the way for the development of new business and alliances. In addition, due to the consideration of Miami as the capital of Latin America within the United States, an important commercial link for the company that will facilitate the flow between the north and south of the American continent will be established.
In March 2013, after signing an agreement to deploy 2.000 Smart WiFi Zones at New York (project where the Big Apple’s City Council wanted to take part in September 2013), GOWEX landed in June of last year in San Francisco. Today, GOWEX could show off about its new ‘WiFi City’ in the USA, because next May the company will deploy its WiFi network at Miami, in order to provide its services in the North American tropical paradise.
“Personally, I feel very comfortable at Miami, I have a special fondness because it was the city in which I initiated and developed a big part of my business and career” stressed Jenaro Garcia, CEO and founder of GOWEX, who also said “Miami is a very important and strategic link between the U.S. and Latin America”
GOWEX Wireless Smart Cities® (WSC) global model success and recognition in the American cities (and at the other 85 cities where the Company is present) have been decisive facts to deploy the project at Miami. As in other cases, GOWEX will make profitable the investment effort of that have been carried out for this project, thanks to the following incomes:
Advertising Incomes: thanks to the Smart Advertising platform that will maximizing the use of the American ad market, the largest in the world
Roaming and Offloading Incomes: as a result of the 150 agreements between GOWEX and carriers participating at the Roaming Platform, as Oi Brasil, AT&T or Deutsche Telekom
Incomes belonging from the Smart City services: incomes obtained from the smart services provided with the GOWEX Wireless Smart Cities® platform
Free WiFi all over Miami’s main Districts
GOWEX network will cover the main city’s districts and emblematic streets through its Smart WiFi Zones. Every smartphone or tablet user will be able to get a Free WiFi connection in around 400 hotpots, distributed in Lenox Avenue, Biscayne Boulevard, Collins Avenue., Miracle Mile, and Flagler Street or at Ocean Drive, one the most symbolic avenue.
Miami receives 12 million visitors per year and has 5, 5 million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and all of them will be able to connect to GOWEX Free WiFi. And, as in all GOWEX networks, any user with an account will get a 1 Mbps speed connection for free and will have other Premium options.
The propitious weather (3.000 hours of sun per year), and its intense “street” life –in comparison with the remaining states in the country-, as its importance as a financial and tourist hub, have make Miami the ideal location to deploy the company’s network. The potential use per inhabitants and the attractiveness of the place as a touristic destination match together as the perfect elements to make Miami a success model case for GOWEX.
PPP: Public Private Partnership
Just the same as it has been done in New York or San Francisco, the key to develop the GOWEX Free WiFi services at Miami, has been the collaboration between different local actors and partners (public and private), which have given the strength to GOWEX business model.
With Miami as new Wireless Smart City, the Company keeps its path to archives the 300 worldwide capital cities goal on a medium term. GOWEX capacity is every day more global, allowing users to connect in Madrid, New York, Paris, San Francisco or Edinburgh, etc, or in any of its 85 Wireless Smart Cities® around the world.
- See more at: http://www.gowex.com/en/miami-third-gowex-wifi-city-in-the-united-states-and-new-strategic-city-at-the-us-market/#sthash.r68GwpGv.dpuf
Overheating now at ten bucks
Versus around 4.5 euros in Europe !
SPLIT 1 share to five shares realized
and new price is 6.16 !
Big up yesterday at 22.75
Are the new yorkers satisfied with their new free wifi network?
gowex announces today that it opens a free wifi connection in new york
US5272611014 LGWXY
spanish company for wifi connexion
should be listed soon
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