Aegis BPO, the outsourcing arm of the $15 billion Essar Group, has signed a whopping $2 billion multi-year deal for managing customer care operations of Middle Eastern telecom giant Saudi Telecom Co (STC).
As part of the deal, Aegis and STC would form a near equal joint venture company to be called the Contact Centre Company (CCC), which would provide customer service to STC?s 28 million customers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia exclusively for eight years. STC will hold 50% plus one share, while Aegis will hold the rest.
The CCC will employ close to 5,000 employees, who will be transferred into the newly formed entity from STC?s existing customer care operations. Close to 550 employees will be moved in the first phase, with the remaining being brought on board over the next 18 to 24 months.
?This is one of the largest deals that has happened in the sector in the recent past. The deal would help STC variablise fixed cost and free up management bandwidth to focus on emerging opportunities. This would also provide a huge leg up to Aegis’ West Asia presence, since the joint venture would actively seek new business,? said Aparup Sengupta, managing director and global chief executive officer, Aeigis.
According to Sengupta, the CCC, which was eyeing revenues of close to $250 million a year with this single deal, will look at verticals such as banking and finance, healthcare and retail across the Middle East going forward.
?We have aspirations of making this the largest BPO operations in the region. The total headcount, upon entering more verticals and geographies has the potential of reaching 10,000 employees,? he added.
CCC?s operations would be spread across two locations, which will include one brown field set up in an existing STC facility in Jeddah, and a green field operation, which will be functional from March in Riyadh.
(This correspondent is in Dubai on an invitation by Aegis)