July 02, 2006	Sunday	Jumadi-ul-Sani 5, 1427

KARACHI, July 1: Pakistan’s first “call centre hotel” project will be launched in Karachi in coordination with reputed Indian voice and data company GTL India and VELink of the US and will be endorsed by the Association of Call Centre Operators-Pakistan (ACCO).

Noman Saigal, adviser to the Sindh chief minister on information technology and alternative energy, and Indian call centre expert Anil Ballari of an international consortium, ITES Consulting, announced. Noman Saigal gave details of the memorandum of understanding to be signed on August 11 at the ITES conference at ITCN Asia 2006.

GTL, which holds more than 40,000 BPO (business process outsourcing) and call centre seats in all over India, along with VELink USA will implement the project through their consulting technology and international business marketing.

Abdullah Butt, President of the ACCO, said total output of Indian call centre business was about $18-20 billion which had total employees of 175,000. In Pakistan, there are only 87 registered call centres and 65 to 70 per cent are engaged in domestic business. About 2,500 employees are registered at these call centres.

Anil Kumar said initially $2 million were being invested while a total of $20 million will be invested in Sindh.