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Wednesday, March 05, 2003
US firm to open call center in Cebu
By Jessica B. Natad
A UTAH-BASED call center operator has decided to open its first call center in the Philippines in Cebu.
According to Board of Investments (BOI) Gov. Geronimo Sta. Ana, Western Wats is now negotiating with the Ayala-led Asiatown Information Technology (IT) Park in Barangay Apas.
But the call center has confirmed its opening within the year, he said.
Sta. Ana said Western Wats is the third call center company that would open this year in Cebu.
Cebu Investment Promotions Center (CIPC) managing director Joel Mari Yu earlier said Sykes and Bigfoot Communications would start operating their call centers in Cebu within the year.
Sta. Ana said the interest of call center operators to expand in Cebu has prompted the BOI to encourage property developers to provide developments to suit these needs.
“Call centers require a 100 percent connection for 24 hours, seven days, and 365 days a year. They require a backup or what they call redundancy. Buildings must satisfy this requirement,” he said.
Sta. Ana said call centers outside IT parks or economic zones can still avail themselves of tax incentives if they registered with the BOI.
Many call center investors such as Sykes have decided to locate outside Asiatown due to that IT park’s P350 per square meter lease rate, which they consider high, CIPC’s Yu earlier said.
Sta. Ana said BOI gives at least a four-year income tax holiday to BOI-registered investments.
Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza)-registered companies, on the other hand, pay only five percent of their gross profit as taxes.
Sta. Ana said the government is now fast-tracking the approval of a bill that has been filed in Congress for four years now, which seeks to give back the tax-free importation of capital goods incentive to BOI-registered investments.
“Many companies think the tax-free importation of capital goods is more important than the five percent of gross income as tax,” he said.
(March 5, 2003 issue)
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