A LEADING Scottish telecoms group has announced record revenues of more than £15 million for the last year – a rise of 15 per cent – and is predicting further growth in 2018.
Commsworld, the country’s biggest independent telecoms company, said 2017 was its best financial year to date and followed several large pubic sector contract wins, including information and communication technology (ICT) contracts with City of Edinburgh and Scottish Borders councils.
Its projections for this year indicate even stronger growth with an expected turnover of more than £20m after Commsworld landed its biggest contract – a seven-year, £30m deal to become the key provider in Glasgow City Council’s (ICT) contract.
The company has also seen its headcount grow, with more than 80 staff now employed across locations including Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh, with hopes to reach 100 staff in the coming months.
Commsworld chief executive, Ricky Nicol, said: “It’s been a terrific year and it’s testament to the hard-working team we have that we’ve enjoyed this record year of growth. We’re all delighted that 2017 has been the best year in our history. After taking the decision to provide a personal and tailored service to businesses, we’ve seen more and more clients join us or choose to renew their contracts with us.
“But the real step up for us as a business has been proving that we can deliver excellence on the biggest public-sector ICT contracts in Scotland.”
The Edinburgh and Scottish Borders contracts are expected to transform the infrastructure of both areas to ensure those living and working in there will be able to benefit from ultra-fast broadband.
In Edinburgh, this has resulted in 400 sites to be serviced by the pure fibre wide area network. All primary schools will now have bandwidth at a minimum of 100MB – and all secondary schools have gigabit speed connections.
The firm’s work on Glasgow City Council’s ICT contract, announced early this year, will see it play a major role in transforming Glasgow into one of the world’s most digitally advanced cities.
This is expected to result in a massive upgrade of existing connection speeds, making them 100 times the UK average, with a stronger network meaning more robust and stable connections.
Nicol added: “One of the most satisfying parts of our rapid growth has been being able to employ more and more people to work on projects such as these and allow them to share in our success.
“Just as the work carried out will create very real, tangible benefits that allow Glasgow to be at the forefront of the digital revolution, so it allows our talented team to expand and create the best possible product for our customers.”
The Glasgow contract is the biggest in Commsworld’s 23-year history and will also see the firm roll out an internet protocol (IP) telephony solution for more than 16,000 council users and a 550-seat contact centre.
Meanwhile, consumer rights group Which has revealed that one in five British households has experienced slow broadband speeds in the last year, with a similar number reporting connection dropouts and router problems.
Which polled more than 1900 customers across 12 providers and more than half said they had had problems with their broadband service or price.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here