Paltel

Paltel was a struggling telecom monopoly in a soon to be deregulated environment in Palestine. Losses were piling up and the company needed some restructuring and focus. Paul Pereira was brought in and turned this company around from a loss position to a $50 million profit in one year.

Paltel consisted of several subsidiaries each with their own profit center. Sales were falling and profits needed to be bolstered. Pereira was asked to intervene and provide a structured turnaround and expansion plan.

Based in Nablus, Palestine Pereira went to work on the task of getting more efficient gateways for communication and reversing the loss of revenues.

One of the first actions was to have Palestine recognized by the ITC as an independent country, and that an independent telecom gateway would not pose any threat for Isreal apart from loss of revenue. This action was successful, and Palestine finally got issued its country code. The task of rebuilding the telecom began with restructuring the subsidiaries and identifying the cost and profit centers. The project proved to be a success and the company showed $150 million in profits the following year from a $50 million loss.

At Paltel, Pereira worked alongside Dr. Abdul Malek Al Jaber, a prominent political and business figure in Palestine. Pereira and Al Jaber worked together to develop a strategy for expansion.

The birth of Vtel, where Pereira was founding director and shareholder was born. Pereira worked diligently on developing a global strategy and launched a blue ocean of growth through acquisition of operators in “difficult emerging countries”. After a successful presentation to Sabri Masri, Ghiath Suktian, as well as Chairmen and Directors of the Arab Bank, The Cairo Amman Bank; a new strategy was approved and adopted to execute.

$1 billion was the mandate to raise for the telecom consortium, and after one week the task was complete. Pereira went to Dubai and registered the telecom company. Vtel was built and the company was restructured. The experience proved to be very enlightening.

Pereira assembled a team and began the global acquisition strategy. Today, Vtel is a successful telecom consortium with 9 acquisitions under its belt across several countries.