Sitel to open 4 more call centers

Posted November 11, 2008

SITEL Philippines remains on an aggressive expansion mode despite the global crisis, as it is set to open four new call-center facilities in different areas in the country in 2009, including La Union and Tarlac.

Danilo Reyes, president of Sitel Philippines, told the BusinessMirror that within the first half of 2009, the company will be operating its new locations inside the Poro Point Special Economic and Free-port Zone in San Fernando, La Union, and in the information technology (IT) district of Tarlac City.

Both locations, he said, will have 1,000 seats initially. He did not disclose the actual amount of the investment.

As a rule of thumb, the capital required for each call-center seat is about $10,000.

“Sitel Philippines remains bullish on the Philippine BPO [business-process outsourcing] sector and is committed to continue its expansion programs in San Fernando, La Union, and Tarlac in spite of the economic downturn in the US,” Reyes said.

After La Union and Tarlac, Reyes said Sitel will also be opening sites in two more areas within 2009, although he did not yet reveal the two other locations.

With the opening of its Poro Point and Tarlac facilities, Reyes said they will already have more than 10,000 seats in the country.

Sitel also operates in Quezon City, Mandaluyong, Pasig and Baguio City.

He said the company decided to put up facilities in Tarlac and La Union because of the availability of competent human resources in the areas, good infrastructure and safe environment.

Being special IT zones, Reyes said the two areas also have readily available incentive packages for BPO firms.

There are already Sitel Academies in Tarlac and La Union, with the current graduates being dispatched to the company’s other locations first.

Sitel, Reyes said, has the option to bring in the company’s prefabricated structures from Canada to La Union so it could easily build the facility there.

Earlier, officials of the state-owned Poro Point Management Corp. disclosed that Sitel is already in serious talks with them for the lease of some 3,000 hectares of land in the free port’s IT zone.

Source: Businessmirror.com.ph, November 11, 2008
by Max V. de Leon