Vanco wins £19.6m Euromaster outsourcing deal

UK virtual network operator's largest single contract to date...

Tyre company Euromaster has outsourced its entire corporate telecoms network to Vanco in a three-year deal worth £19.6m.

It is Vanco's largest single deal to date and the virtual network operator (VNO) will be responsible for the design, implementation and management of all Euromaster's telecoms services, covering 12,800 staff and 1,700 sites in 10 countries across Europe.

The outsourcing move will see Euromaster switch from using decentralised national telecoms services in each country to Vanco's managed service in an attempt to cut network costs by 20 per cent.

Speaking at Vanco's annual conference in Lisbon this week, Gilson Santiago, European CIO at Euromaster, said €2m in savings have already been identified.

He said: "We are not applying the technology as a differentiator but to reduce costs."

Vanco has also won a new deal with oil and gas company Total to supply an internet VPN connecting certain sites across five continents. The value of the contract has not been disclosed.

The customer wins come hot on the heels of rival company Sirocom stealing some of Vanco's business in a €17m deal with Reed Recruitment.

But Allen Timpany, CEO and founder of Vanco, said the high-profile contract wins show that the VNO model - which involves effectively reselling network capacity at the lowest price by passing traffic around different carriers - is putting pressure on asset-heavy telcos such as BT.

He told silicon.com: "You will see the gradual decline of the likes of AT&T, BT and Equant on the global stage. We are the natural business model for a mature telecoms market."