Philippine Government Supports Call Center Boom with 100,000 Scholarships

MANILA PHILIPPINES - As the Philippine call center industry continues to heat up, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo ordered a scholarship program for 100,000 Filipinos.

The scholarship will ensure a continuing pool of world class Filipino personnel for the contact center industry, said the President during the in inauguration of the new call center facility of Sutherland Global Services in Makati City.

Numerous companies are setting up outsourcing operations in the Philippines, and existing locators are expanding rapidly - announcing plans to double the number of call center agents in 2006.

Sutherland is a New York based outsourcing firm that opened its operations in the Philippines this year with 750 employees, and plans to hire 750 more in the next six months.

Leading contact center operator eTelecare Global Solutions will also expand its operations in the United States and the Philippines and will hire as many as 3,000 additional Filipino agents, said John Harris, the company's new president and CEO.

The additional agents will complement eTelecare's existing force of 4,000 in the Philippines. Two thirds of the company's employees are based in the Philippines.

In 2006, eTelecare plans to expand its operations in Metro Manila, and is actively looking for a location for its fifth center in the Philippines.

eTelecare anticipates significant increase in revenues this year due to continued rise in demand for business process outsourcing services in its North American market.

The company expects to reach deliver P9 Billion in revenues this year, a 28% jump from its 2005 revenues of P7 Billion.

President Arroyo increased the budget of Technical Education Skills Development Authority (TESDA) from P50 Million to P500 Million to fund the call center scholarship program.

3/31/06

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