HomeNewsColt CEO Rakesh Bhasin outlines vision for European wholesale communications and IT market at Capacity Europe

Colt CEO Rakesh Bhasin outlines vision for European wholesale communications and IT market at Capacity Europe

In a keynote panel session at the Capacity Europe event in Amsterdam Rakesh Bhasin, Chief Executive Officer of Colt, Europe’s leading information delivery platform, outlined a vision for the wholesale ICT market where emerging value-added integrated IT and communications solutions enable new revenue streams for service providers in addition to their established network offerings.

Bhasin delivered an upbeat message to the sector: “Growth in the wholesale telecoms and IT market is predicated on moving away from minutes and bandwidth and towards driving value across three strategic pillars:

• Developing new revenue streams, including enablement of cloud-based services and the growing demand for data transmission in mobile backhaul;
• Cost optimisation through better asset utilisation and automation developments; and
• Improved customer experience through smarter standards-based operations.”

He continued; “I believe that Wholesale operators are best placed to take advantage of new revenue streams beyond the traditional network. Cloud Services are a great example here. The ownership of key network and Data Centre assets enable operators to offer customers a high performing, secure and flexible platform that integrates networking and IT managed services with seamless end-to-end SLA’s.

Camille Mendler, Vice President Yankee Group’s Anywhere Enterprise Research Group; adds:”Colt is at the forefront of smart wholesale. It understands that innovation and value lie in delivering managed solutions that bridge IT and networking domains, underpinned with a solid focus in securing customer experience.”

Colt also received the accolade ‘2010 Best European Wholesale Offering’ at the annual Capacity Awards that recognise carriers and service providers that have established themselves at the forefront of the wholesale telecoms industry.

François Eloy, Managing Director of the Wholesale Division at Colt said: “We’re delighted at the continuing recognition of Colt’s leadership in Ethernet, where we continue to develop both our technical capabilities and reach. Most recently in 2010 highlights include our Central and Eastern Europe extension and interconnection with the CENX Ethernet Exchanges in London and New York.”

Eira Hayward, Managing Editor, Capacity Magazine said: “The judges were impressed by Colt’s Ethernet connectivity services. With a new simplified pricing model and self-service tools deployed, Colt offers wholesale customers a wide European reach over its Ethernet network, including destinations in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania.”

About Capacity award

Capacity magazine’s Global Wholesale Telecommunications Awards were announced on November 15 in Amsterdam, on the first evening of Capacity Europe 2010 at an awards cocktail reception attended by senior-level industry executives. The awards have been created to recognise market players, who through applying effective techniques and strategies to their wholesale businesses, have established themselves at the forefront of the wholesale telecoms industry. The Awards’ entry categories reflect Capacity’s focus on the business techniques needed for innovation and success in the rapidly evolving wholesale market. The judging panel comprised Capacity’s senior editorial staff and a range of senior industry analysts.

About Colt

Colt is the leading information delivery platform for European business, enabling its customers to share process and store their vital business information. An established leader in delivering integrated networking and IT managed services to major organisations, midsized businesses and wholesale customers, Colt operates a 19 countries, 25,000 km network that includes metropolitan area networks in 34 major European cities with direct fibre connections into 17,000 buildings and 19 Colt data centres, whilst services reach via partners covers all European countries and targeted destinations worldwide. In 2010, the Colt Data Centre Services business was launched to deliver innovative modular data centres which are high quality, rapid to deploy and power efficient. Colt 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:

Press contacts
Thomas Andrews, Weber Shandwick
DDI: +44 (0) 207 067 0712
Mobile: +44 (0) 7806 558 245
Email: [email protected]

Henny Valder, Colt
DDI: +44 207 947 1610
Email: [email protected]

Industry analysts’ contact
Agi Augustyniak
DDI: + 44 (0)8453 700655
Mobile: +44 (0) 07595 003328
Email: [email protected]

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