Date:
May 2003
Government Steps in to Resolve US Telecom Dispute
Fear
that the Philippines might lose out on the
lucrative call-center market has prompted
the government to step in and attempt to heal
the rift between local and US telecommunication
companies.
The Department of Trade and Industry is seeking
a doubling of contact center capacity in the
Philippines from 15,000 seats to 30,000 seats
by the end of the year. US companies are a
major target in the government quest to establish
new call center operations in Manila. Investment
in call centers has grown by more than 180%
between 2000 and end 2002 to a current investment
level of around US$5 billion.
The current telecom dispute arose back in
February of this year when AT&T and MCA
filed an FCC complaint against the decision
of local carriers to raise their rates for
inbound calls from 8¢ to 12¢ for
landline calls and from 12¢ to 16¢
for mobile calls. The American carriers called
the rates unacceptable even though they were
within the range sanctioned by the FCC and
were lower than termination charges elsewhere
in Asia.
During a recent bilateral trade meeting, US
representatives called on the Philippines
to review its pricing structure and threatened
that unless it did so, US call centers and
other IT investors might locate elsewhere.
Local carriers retorted that the call center
business was operated through leased lines
and that an entirely different pricing structure
applied as compared to dial up services.
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