STP.L Regulatory News (STP)

30 Oct 2008 07:00



For release: 07.00, 30 October 2008

SPIRITEL PLC

("SpiriTel" or "the Company")

SPIRITEL WINS THREE YEAR MANAGED SERVICE CONTRACT WITH YOUNG'S

SpiriTel to provide converged voice and data managed service across Young's sites

SpiriTel plc, (AIM:STP), the business communications service provider, is pleased to announce that it has signed a three year managed services contract with one of the UK's leading hospitality companies, Young and Co.'s Brewery PLC ("Young's"). SpiriTel will provide Young's, the owner manager of over 100 pubs throughout London and the South East, with a fully integrated voice and data solution including VoIP, WiFi and network services. This agreement follows the successful completion of a trial earlier this year and the contract is set to exceed £1 million in value for SpiriTel over its lifespan. 

Under the terms of the contract, SpiriTel will manage network services across the entire Young's estate of approximately 120 sites, including the head office. In addition, following the successful trial conducted earlier this year, SpiriTel will continue the roll out of its award winning hosted VoIP and WiFi solution to Young's sites. This service enables Young's to provide free WiFi to its customers. The IP technology being deployed by SpiriTel also provides Young's with the opportunity to deliver a wide range of additional services to their customers in the future. 

Commenting on the contract, Alastair Mills, CEO of SpiriTel said: "This is an exciting and significant contract win for SpiriTel. We are proud to be working with such a distinguished name in the UK hospitality sector, where we are widely recognised as one of the leading service providers. A group-wide managed service contract on this scale is testament to the fully integrated IP product portfolio which we now offer to our customers."

He added: "Our successful acquisition strategy is being delivered alongside organic growth from managed service contracts to business customers. The contract with Young's reflects an accelerating migration towards IP-based managed service agreements, where providers benefit from increased levels of future earnings visibility." 

Andrew Maynard IS Manager of Young's commented: "We are delighted to be working with SpiriTel on the delivery of a fully integrated communications solution. This contract will deliver significant efficiencies for Young's and we are excited about the services we can offer to our pub managers and customers as a result of the roll out of SpiriTel's converged, IP based solution."

As with the previously announced Regent Inns contract (the UK's largest hosted VoIP and WiFi contract) SpiriTel worked alongside Mitel, with whom they hold the highest level of accreditation as a premier partner, to deliver this service. SpiriTel's Technologies Division managed the initial trial and the development of the solution for Young's and supplies the network services to the customer through the SpiriTel Business Division. 

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For further information please visit www.SpiriTelplc.com or contact:

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.

"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 fully integrated business communications group which enables its customers to take advantage of the opportunities created by rapidly changing telecoms markets as the migration to Internet Protocol (IP) based services accelerates. The Group is a consolidator of the highly fragmented UK telecoms reseller market and is building a substantial customer base and scale through selective acquisitions. We are organised into two divisions: SpiriTel Technologies, which focuses on IP networking and wholesale voice services; and SpiriTel Business, which provides a full range of voice and data services directly to our Business customers. 

SpiriTel offers fixed and mobile voice and data communications solutions including Voice over IP (VoIP), data networking, telephone systems and ISP services to a rapidly expanding customer base. We are a leader in the provision of new, but proven, VoIP solutions that are firmly based on the old-fashioned service values which run throughout the Group.