Saudi Telecom Co. (STC), Saudi Arabia’s largest telecom operator and Aegis, a global outsourcing services company and part of the $15 billion Essar Group, today announced a landmark strategic partnership, which would see Aegis managing STC’s entire customer care operations including billing, directory enquiry, collection, verification.

Aegis, a leader in total customer lifecycle management, serves over 150 clients through a network of 47 delivery centers spread across 11 countries. It has more than 50,000 employees and serves a diversified base of customers in Banking, Financial Services, Insurance, Telecom, Healthcare, Travel & Hospitality, Consumer Goods, Retail and Technology.

Aegis and STC will form a joint venture, Call Centre Company (CCC), to provide customer care to STC’s 28 million customers in Saudi Arabia. Initially, STC will transfer 550 agents across two directory-assistance centers. Over the next 18-24 months, Aegis will re-badge the remaining 4,500 STC customer care agents.

Both partners would have near-equal stakes in CCC, with STC holding 50% plus one share, and Aegis the rest. Aegis would have operational control and responsibilities. CCC would enjoy an exclusivity contract with STC. Besides targeting other customers in Saudi Arabia, CCC would also pursue customer care opportunities in Bahrain and Kuwait.

“STC has been a pioneer in the telecom landscape of Saudi Arabia and now has broadened its horizon to focus on other growth markets like the Gulf states, Africa, and India. We will increase our focus on our core operations, such as providing next generation telecommunication service to our customers. We are happy to have found an able partner in Aegis, we are confident Aegis would provide a great level of satisfaction to our customers, given their vast experience in managing customer experience across multiple geographies,” said Saud Al Daweesh, Group CEO, STC.

“We are pleased to be selected by STC in this landmark deal which not only demonstrates the visionary thinking of STC but also endorses Aegis’ expertise in managing customer experience,” said Aparup Sengupta, Managing Director & Global CEO, Aegis. “This deal would help STC vary their fixed cost and free up their management bandwidth to focus on emerging opportunities. This would also provide a huge boost to Aegis’ West Asia presence, since the joint venture would actively seek new businesses. We have aspirations of making this the largest BPO operation in the region.”

About Aegis
Aegis is a world-leading outsourcing services partner for more than 150 clients and with over two decades of leadership in total customer lifecycle management. The company has more than 50,000 employees across 47 locations, with a presence in 11 countries, serving verticals such as BFSI, Telecom, Healthcare, Travel & Hospitality, Consumer Goods, Retail and Technology. The company specializes in tailor-made solutions that cover the entire spectrum of customer and business experiences — across business processing, technology, and shared services — and offers customized engagement models to further facilitate the ease of doing business. Aegis is wholly owned by the Essar Group — a US$15 billion conglomerate. For more information, please visit www.aegisglobal.com.

About STC
Saudi Telecom owns and operates the largest, most reliable and diverse state-of-art telecommunications infrastructure, with investments in major terabit-size submarine cable systems passing through the Region, a self-healing national backhaul network, and multiple border-crossing terrestrial fiber optics links. As a consequence, Saudi Telecom has succeeded in becoming the leading Wholesaler within the Region by fully addressing the telecommunications requirements of its domestic and international customers at very attractive terms and with innovative services and unparalleled connectivity. STC, nowadays working in 10 different markets through its subsidiaries and affiliates having an access to more than 100 million subscribers. For more information, please visit www.stc.com.sa.