eTelecare opens call center in Nicaragua

Posted August 19, 2008

MANILA, Philippines -- eTelecare will open a delivery center in Managua, Nicaragua to serve as a near-shore site addressing United States customers.

The company said it would invest $2.1 million in a 70-30 joint venture with Texas-based Almori BPO Services.

eTelecare Nicaragua will provide bi-lingual (Spanish and English) customer voice and technical support services and will initially employ 500 people, its parent firm said.

Nicaragua also has a large untapped pool of skilled workers similar to Costa Rica and Panama.

eTelecare was founded in the Philippines in 2000 and is publicly listed at NASDAQ in the US. Its corporate headquarters is at Eastwood City in Libis, Quezon City and its US head office is in Scottsdale, Arizona.

The company now employs more than 10,000 workers in the country, located in six call centers including one in Cebu City. In the US, it has centers in Arizona, North Dakota, South Dakota and New Mexico.

In September last year, eTelecare announced its acquisition of AOL's customer service subsidiary located in Clark Field, Pampanga.

Benedict Hernandez, eTelecare's local general manager, said the company will leverage on AOL to venture into more non-voice technical support services.

eTelecare's site in Pampanga employs more than 1,000 workers.

"Our expansion next year will definitely be outside of Metro Manila, Hernandez said in an interview.

Source: Inquirer.net, August 16, 2008
by Lawrence Casiraya