Celesio appoints COLT as its single supplier for pan-European network 

Converged voice and data network to connect more than 2,500 locations across 14 European countries

19 October 2009: COLT, a leading European provider of business communications, today announced it has been awarded a seven-year contract to provide Celesio, one of the leading trading companies and service providers within the pharmaceutical market worldwide, with a converged pan-European data and voice network. The value of the contract is several tens of millions of euro. 

Under the terms of the contract, COLT takes on the management of the wide area network and delivery of converged IP services, connecting more than 2,500 Celesio locations in 14 countries across Europe. The COLT solution will support Celesio's pan-European IT infrastructure services.

With COLT Celesio has a single service provider for both its data and voice services. This enables Celesio to reduce management complexity and to simplify its processes in order to achieve further cost and resource efficiencies. COLT's extensive network reach and broad portfolio of services meet Celesio's business needs and provide a complete solution with a single point of contact, delivering easier management and greater efficiencies.

"We're delighted to be Celesio's partner of choice for data and voice services to simplify its network and IT services", said Detlef Spang, Managing Director, Major Enterprise, COLT. "Our unrivalled European network and acknowledged expertise in providing business communications to organisations across the continent enabled us to meet Celesio's business needs and design a solution that fully meets their challenging requirements."

Alfons Wahlers, Corporate IT Director and Chief Information Officer at Celesio, said "Having a single supplier for our pan-European data and voice network will enable us to reduce operating costs and free up resources for investments. Furthermore, it will contribute to the optimisation of IT processes and standardisation within the Celesio Group. Due to the resulting increase in flexibility Celesio will also be able to react faster to changing market requirements. We chose COLT because it is a supplier with expertise and experience whom we can trust to manage our network, the performance of which is critical to our business needs." 

COLT's Major Enterprise Division serves the needs of multinational and large national organisations typically with more than 1,000 employees. COLT's wide range of end-to-end solutions cater for the diverse needs of companies in the finance, professional services, media and public sectors. By leveraging its network and data centre assets, COLT offers services that can deliver faster time to market, lower costs and enhance security and compliance.

Ends

About COLT

COLT is a leading European provider of business communications. COLT specialises in providing data, voice and managed services to major businesses, SMEs and wholesale customers. COLT operates a 13-country, 25,000km network that includes metropolitan area networks in 34 major European cities with direct fibre connections into 16,000 buildings and 19 COLT data centres.  

COLT Telecom Group S.A. is listed on the London Stock Exchange (COLT). Information about COLT and its services can be found at www.colt.net. 

For more information, please contact:

Gill Maclean

COLT

Tel: + 44 (0)20 7947 5314

Email: pr@colt.net