PLDT mulls 3rd call center

The Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), through its information and communications technology arm ePLDT, is planning on putting up a third call center this year.

Right now, ePLDT has two operational call centers: Vocativ Systems Inc. which is a partnership with US-based Teletech, and Parlance Systems Inc., a call center fully dedicated to one US direct customer (Denver-based).

PLDT senior vice president Rosalie Montenegro revealed that the third one will either be similar to Parlance in that it is devoted to one American customer firm, or one that will cater to a European company. "We are looking that one in the United Kingdom," she said.

Vocativ currently has 500 seats with capacity for expansion for another 250. Since it started commercial operations in June 2002, the call center has chalked up gross revenues of $2.2 million.

On the other hand, Parlance now has 522 seats with minimal room for expansion in the same site. It started operations in May 2002. It reported gross revenues of over $3 million from close to three million minutes of call business generated, and hopes to increase this to five million minutes by May this year.

According to Montenegro, it has been a relatively good year for PLDT’s call center business, which created 750 new jobs last year.

From the current 800 FTE (full-time equivalent) or roughly 800 customer service representatives, Montenegro said that PLDT president Manuel V. Pangilinan wants to increase this to 10,000 FTEs by 2005.

During a news conference, Montenegro said there is a need for government to reinstate English as a medium of instruction, if government is to succeed in transforming the Philippines into the call center capital of the world. "The fact that the Philippines is the third largest English-speaking country is ironic since Filipinos no longer speak English the way they used to," she emphasized.

Meanwhile, another wholly owned ePLDT subsidiary, Vitro Data Center, revealed yesterday that one of its strategies to attain its goal of a 50-percent growth in revenues this year and P500 million in gross revenues is participating in government computerization projects.

One of this is the e-filing system of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) in which the PLDT ICT group wants to participate in.

From P98 million in gross revenues in 2001, Vitro registered a 237-percent increase in income to P330 million last year and hopes to further increase this to P500 million this year.

Also yesterday, PLDT chief technology officer Emmanuel Dizon announced the creation of a new company called iPlus Intelligent Network Inc. whose core product and service includes assessing and managing customers’ IT infrastructure and IP network-based or hosted contact center provisioning.

Unlike a premised-based contact center which typically contains a desk, chair, computer terminal, phone and a room full of equipment being maintained by a team of information systems and telecommunications personnel, an IP network-based contact center does not have a room full of equipment nor huge IT and telecoms personnel since all the equipment is hosted in by a service provider.

For its part, Netopia, the country’s largest Internet cafÈ chain which is 40 percent owned by ePLDT, is looking at substantial profits of P16 million this year.

Netopia president Raymond Ricafort revealed that from providing basic Internet access, the company hopes to start providing communications as the next step, and distributing digital content in five to 10 years time.

Ricafort believes that Internet cafÈ chains will continue to be in business, especially since majority of Filipinos will never have their own personal computers in their lifetime.

He explained that the low Internet usage in the Philippines is mainly due to the low per capita gross domestic product of $900 per year and the still relatively expensive cost of acquiring PCs at $600 per unit.

In the Philippines, less than two percent of the population has PCs while an even lower number has Internet access.