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BREAKING NEWS: Sam Skontos Out At TCL

Sam Skontos the executive who built the Alcatel phone brand in Australia to be the third largest behind Samsung and Apple is moving on from TCL after 12 years running the business via a distribution arrangement.

Skontos who has had the rights to the Alcatel and TCL brands in Australia via his own distribution Company Synefon is set to be retailed as a consultant to the Chinese phone maker who has appointed Mr Michael Kwok as the new General Manager of the Oceania Region as they move to take control of the TCL Mobile operation in Australia.

They have also appointed a former Huawei Australia employee Ms Fei Xin to head their sales operation in Australia for the TCL brand.

The restructure takes effect as of the 1st of December 2020, it’s not known whether the TCL TV and Mobile phone operations will be merged in Australia.

Skontos was also responsible for the TCL and Alcatel sponsorship deals with NRL Club South Sydney (Rabbitohs) which we understand will continue in 2021.

Skontos second from right seen with sporting & entertainment celebrities

A statement sent to carriers claims that The 12-year partnership between TCL Communication Limited and Synefon (Australasia) Pty Ltd will continue via the new consulting arrangement.

TCL said that the combination of  Sam Skontos as Managing Director, Paul Lakkis as Director of Sales and Arnaud Abad as Director of Technical and Support, resulted in the Alcatel brand establishing itself as a strong mobility brand across the South East Asia & Pacific markets.

Within Australia and New Zealand, Alcatel mobile reached a status of No. 3 by volume and quickly became known as the “best value” brand in the smart devices market TCL claimed.

As consultants, the Synefon team will continue to offer the same level of services that our customers have been accustomed to over the last 12 years, ensuring its strong expertise remains to benefit TCL Communication Limited. They will be focused on implementing and supporting all business activities around its Alcatel branded products.

Currently TCL is rolling out several new smartphones with a new 5G model to be released shortly.

The brand has had a lot of success outside of China and has recently started to make headway in the highly competitive US market where TCL TV’s are the #2 brand.

ChannelNews understands that TCL aims to expand on the brands success in Australia which  under Skontos saw the brand launch new tablets, watches and in 2021 a new foldable device is tipped.

ChannelNews understands that several employees of Synefon have joined Skontos in his new venture and that he is set to launch several new products next year.

Prior to setting up Synefon Skontos was the VP and Managing Director of Alcatel a brand that is licenced to TCL by Nokia who acquired the Alcatel brand name when they acquired Alcatel Lucent.

He also worked as the Sales Director of Virgin Mobile and was a General Manager at Mitsubishi working alongside Phil Newton the former Vice President of Samsung and now the head of Bowers & Wilkins.



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