Released: 15/11/2007
RNS Number:7654H
Spiritel PLC
15 November 2007
Embargoed until 0700h, 15 November 2007
SPIRITEL PLC
("Spiritel" or "the Company")
SPIRITEL SIGNS THE UK'S LARGEST BUSINESS VoIP AND WiFi CONTRACT
WITH REGENT INNS PLC
Spiritel plc, (AIM:STP) the telecommunications services company, is pleased to
announce that it has signed a five year contract for up to £1.25 million with
one of the UK's leading hospitality companies, Regent Inns plc (or "Regent").
Spiritel will provide Regent, owner of the Walkabout, Old Orleans, Jongleurs and
Bar Risa outlets, with VPN management, hosted VoIP and customer WiFi to their
100 sites across the UK, their head office in Borehamwood and to a number of
their field-based staff. This contract follows the successful completion of a
trial earlier this year.
For Regent's staff, the solution provides complete geographic freedom for their
communications needs and the ability to work with the same degree of efficiency
and functionality from home or any Regent site. At Regent's 100 bars and
restaurants, customers will be able to enjoy a free WiFi experience whilst staff
will benefit from a network infrastructure that simultaneously manages voice,
data, entertainment and security services. The technology deployed as part of
the solution also provides Regent with the opportunity to offer a wide range of
additional services to their customers in future.
Spiritel worked alongside Mitel (with whom they hold the highest level of
accreditation as a premier partner) to ensure record breaking deployment of the
service using Mitel's 3600 hosted VoIP platform. Spiritel's recently
restructured Technologies division managed the development of the solution for
Regent Inns, hosting the 3600 platform and managing the networking services
provided to the customer. The Business division is managing the nationwide roll-
out of the service where all voice and data services will be invoiced on a
single monthly bill.
Commenting on the announcement, Alastair Mills, Chief Executive of Spiritel
said: "We are delighted to have signed this contract to provide Regent Inns with
a fully converged voice and data solution for their offices and outlets. It is
particularly significant in that it is the UK's largest multi-site hosted VoIP
deal and Spiritel's largest contract win to date. The solution is representative
of an accelerating migration towards converged IP based communications and
having been won in competition with two of the UK's largest telecoms providers,
demonstrates our ability to generate significant new revenues in this fast
growing market."
Adam South of Regent Inns added: "The solution provided by Spiritel enables us
to offer our customers free wireless internet access from all our bars and
restaurants, whilst also delivering efficiencies on infrastructure spend and
management. Spiritel's proposition was tailored to our needs and provides the
right operation and commercial model to deliver the service we wanted for our
bars, restaurants and staff. The solution also provides the opportunity for us
to offer customers additional services quickly and cost effectively in the
future."
Enda Kenneally, UK Sales Director of Mitel, who worked closely with Spiritel on
the project commented: "This contract is a testament to Spiritel's ability to
capitalise on the fast growing demand for converged communication services. The
Company's experience in the hospitality industry, linked to its knowledge of our
market-leading 3600 VoIP technology puts it in a strong position to benefit from
a rapidly evolving communications market. We look forward to further developing
our relationship with Spiritel as we support the Company in its delivery of
innovative IP-based solutions for its customers."
-ends-
For further information please visit www.spiritelplc.com or contact:
Spiritel plc Tavistock Communications Landsbanki Securities (UK)
Limited
Alastair Mills Simon Hudson Sindre Ottesen
Chief Executive Clemmie Carr Sebastian Jones
Tel : +44 20 7160 0100 Tel: +44 20 7920 3150 Tel: +44 20 7426 9000
Definitions
"WiFi" or "Wireless Fidelity": A wireless technology brand owned by the WiFi
Alliance intended to improve the inter-operability of wireless local area
network products based on a certain standard. Common applications for WiFi
include Internet and VoIP phone access, gaming and network connectivity for
consumer electronics such as televisions, DVD players and digital cameras.
"VPN" or "Virtual Private Network": A communications network tunneled through
another network and dedicated for a specific network. One common application is
secure communications through the public Internet.
"VoIP" or "Voice over IP (Internet Protocol)": A technology used to transmit
voice conversations over a data network. This is done by digitising voice into
discrete packets that are transferred independently over a data network, instead
of using traditional circuit-switched telephony networks.
Notes to Editors
Spiritel is a telecommunications group which seeks to take advantage of the
opportunities created by rapidly changing telecoms markets in the UK as the
migration to Internet Protocol (IP) based delivery accelerates. The Group is a
consolidator of the highly fragmented UK telecoms reseller market and aims to
build a substantial customer base and scale through selective acquisitions. We
are organised into two divisions, Spiritel Technologies - focused on our
infrastructure and IP products and services - and Spiritel Business, which
provides our customer services.
Today, the Group offers a broad range of telecommunications services and
products to a customer base of small and medium sized enterprises and an
increasing number of larger national organisations. We are a leader in the
provision of new, but proven, Voice over IP (VoIP) solutions that are firmly
based on the old-fashioned service values, which run throughout the Group.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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