From zero in 2004, the number of agents employed by call centers in Bacolod city has grown to 18,000, Rep. Evelio Leonardia said yesterday.

Citing figures from the Department of Science and Technology, Leonardia said in a press release that the tremendous growth of the call center industry in the city during the last nine years has, in fact, elevated it to one of the four “Centers of Excellence in Communication and Information Technology” in the country, together with Manila, Clark and Cebu.

Leonardia disclosed this during the recent visit to the city of the world president and chief executive officer of Transcom Worldwide, one of the major call centers operating in Bacolod today.

Johan Eriksson, global chief of Transcom chose to join the company Christmas celebration in Bacolod City from among its 26 operations around the world, Leonardia said.

Transcom, Leonardia also recalled, is one of the companies that dared locate in the city, even against the advice of the government’s Commission on Information and Communication Technology that had believed Bacolod was not yet ready to host major call centers at that time.

Now with 18,000 agents, Bacolod has become a member of the elite league that hosts the country’s major call centers, the solon said, adding that this means,Bacolod and Transcom eventually proved the CICT wrong.

CICT has since been absorbed by the DOST.*

back to top