Cerillion plc (LON:CER) Chief Executive Officer Louis Hall caught up with DirectorsTalk to discuss the company’s largest-ever contract win, a £42.5 million deal with Omantel, highlighting the significance of the partnership and Cerillion’s competitive edge in BSS/OSS solutions.
Q1: Louis, first off, congratulations on the contract, it’s Cerillion’s largest win to date. To start with, can you just tell us about your new client, Omantel?
A1: Omantel are the largest telecommunications services provider in Oman, and they offer a full range of fixed mobile broadband services to corporate and consumer customers alike. They’re by far the dominant force in that market with over 3 million subscribers.
Q2: So, what exactly will you be doing for them?
A2: So, we’re essentially replacing all of the existing BSS/OSS, all the enterprise software platforms that support the different bases. So, we’re displacing a number of vendors here and we’ll not just be delivering the solution, we’re providing an ongoing service to operate the solution for Omantel over the next five years.
Q3: Now, as I mentioned, this is your largest win to date. Can you just talk about the tender process? How long was it and who were you up against?
A3: It was a long process. The process started over a year ago and they’d been under discussion for some time prior to that. So, it’s a very long process but a very thorough process, very rigorous process. Generally, it stuck to the timetable that was set out.
We were up against much larger vendors, particularly Huawei and Netcracker, which is part of NEC from Japan. So, it was a tough, tough contest.
Q4: Why do you think the contract was awarded to Cerillion?
A4: So, I think there are a number of things but the main reasons, I think, are that we do have a very product-centric approach. So, we provide the same product to all customers. We don’t provide customised versions and that means that what we have to provide works out of the box. It can be demonstrated immediately. That inevitably has a lower total cost of ownership than a more tailored customised approach, which is what most of our traditional competitors would offer.
I think also, as well as providing a lower cost of ownership, the other benefits are the flexibility of a product solution compared to a customised solution. It’s much easier for our end customers to get their own new products to market more quickly with a product solution that’s highly configurable.
I think Omantel were impressed with our ability to demonstrate the use of AI in our application. So, we were able to demonstrate in the process quite a few of these AI enhancements that we’ve introduced over the last year or so.
Q5: Great. Will this contract have the potential to grow over time? And how long are typical relationships?
A5: We have customers in Cerillion who have been customers for over 20 years, and I think the general answer is that most of these relationships are very long term. So, we would expect to be able to work with Omantel for many years to come.
Of course, you’ve got to bear in mind that Omantel is a major stakeholder in Zain Group, which is a broader group with other telco operations in the region. So, there’s obviously scope over time for us to look at other projects within the broader Zain Group.
Q6: Is this your first contract in the Middle East? Is it a particular area of focus right now?
A6: I think it’s a very interesting area for us.
So, it’s not our first contract, we have done other work in the Middle East on a smaller scale in the past. Of course, more recently, we won a big project to support the new Egyptian capital city known as ACUD, and that’s with Orange, who have that contract from the Egyptian government. We won that through our relationship with Nokia. So, that was, I guess, the first substantial project for us in the Middle East, albeit through a large partner. Whereas Omantel, I guess, is our first substantial project we’ve won directly in the Middle East.
I think there is a lot more to come for us in this region. Obviously, we have to deliver well on the Omantel project, and we have to demonstrate that we can do what we say we do. I think if we can do that, then there’s a lot more opportunity for us to come in this region.
