US firm to offshore 2,000 call center jobs to RP

A US-based customer care services provider is planning to put up its third call center in the Philippines, which could offer more than 2,000 more jobs for the country’s growing business process outsourcing (BPO) industry.

Trade Union Congress of the Philippines secretary general and former senator Ernesto Herrera said that Deerfield, Illinois-based firm APAC Customer Services Inc. is "downsizing" its US-based call center operations and transferring it to Manila by the fourth quarter.

Herrera said at least 2,800 college-educated, fluent English-speaking Filipinos would stand to benefit from this move.

Citing a US regulatory filing by APAC, Herrera said the new Philippine facility would absorb the capabilities of the firm’s Deerfield call hubs, which would be scaled down by 1,000 seats.

If plans push through, the new call center would be the firm’s third in the Philippines. APAC, according to Herrera, already has two call centers in the country, with the main facility at Filinvest Corporate City’s Northgate Cyberzone in Alabang, Muntinlupa City.

APAC’s filing did not indicate the cost of the rollout of the additional call center seats in the country, only that "the company now expects full year capital expenditures to increase significantly, primarily as a result of the acceleration of our plans for a third site in Manila." But Herrera said the cost of the new facility is placed at $15 million or P795 million.

Another business process outsourcing provider, PeopleSupport Inc., is reportedly spending the same amount this year for 2,000 additional call center seats in the country at $7,500 each.

APAC shares are publicly traded on the Nasdaq stock market in New York. The company has a market capitalization of $93.71 million and generated $239.8 million in revenues in 2005, Herrera said.

APAC announced last year a restructuring to exit the low-margin outbound telemarketing business, which involved telephone sales representatives making marketing calls to consumers to sell clients’ products or services, resulting in the company’s closure of 12 U.S.-based call centers whose core service capability was the delivery of outbound telemarketing services.

APAC instead decided to concentrate on high-margin customer care applications, and to offshore the bulk of the refocused call center operations to the Philippines.

APAC’s main clients in the US are engaged in communications, healthcare, financial services, business services, travel and entertainment and publishing industries.

Earlier, Herrera said rising wages in the US are forcing some companies there to place their investments here, which in turn, benefit Filipino workers.