BT nets €173 million Unilever contract extension

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BT’s outsourcing contract with Unilever has been extended in a deal worth €173 million (£144 million).

As part of the four-year agreement, BT will ramp up its work for Unilever, owner of brands such as Dove and Hellman’s, in areas such as unified communications and wireless technology to support around 1,000 sites in more than 100 countries.

The new deal builds on the original contract announced in 2002 – the first comprehensive global telecommunications outsource agreement ever made by BT - and will take the partnership through to 2013.

The initial contract was to last for 10 years but contained a seven-year get-out clause.

BT will continue to ensure Unilever’s IT networking infrastructure is fully operational so workers can deliver data effectively and communicate via voice and video without problems, along with numerous other operations.

“Unilever products touch the lives of over two billion people every day and our ambition is to double our business whilst reducing environmental impact. BT is a trusted partner whose high quality and robust services can help us realise that ambition,” said Pascal Visee, chief enterprise support officer at Unilever.

BT’s extension of its biggest private contract to 2013 is one of the most significant corporate deals to be announced in the UK in the past few years, according to the company’s president for global professional services Emer Timmons.

“You’re not going to find to many telecom companies around the world making announcements this big,” she said.

“It’s a real good sign for BT globally so we can actually take on these big contracts and deliver them.”

As for future prospects with Unilever beyond 2013, Timmons told IT PRO to “watch this space”.

She explained that going forward the partners will work together on modernising the contract and refreshing the technology to enable Unilever to grow. Based on the success of that, Timmons believes the relationship could be extended for a “much longer” period.

This isn’t the first piece of good news for BT this month. The company managed to avoid strike action after agreeing a new pay deal with the Communications Workers Union last week.

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