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Free Internet for Cape call centres
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PDF The Western Cape government has partnered with Internet Solutions to offer free Internet, voice and data services to new call centres in the province.
For a period of six months, the Department of Economic Development and Internet Solutions will offer the free services to companies that set up call centres in the province and service clients in offshore markets.
“This incentive targets companies that are contemplating moving their BPO services to the Western Cape, but need some extra encouragement. Internet Solutions has come on board by offering each company free telecommunication services worth R1.5 million for every 200 agents they employ, a deal that would be hard to match anywhere in the world,” says Western Cape Economic Development minister, Alan Winde.
The minister added that the incentive aims to significantly boost the Western Cape’s Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector and unlock growth and jobs for the province.
Currently, the Western Cape’s call centre industry is contributes an estimated R6 billion to the region’s economy and employs 30 000 locals. The department aims to create an additional 10 000 call centre seats in the province within the next three years.
“We are focusing on this sector because it is labour intensive and has a relatively low barrier to entry. Indeed, 70% of all employees are between the ages of 18 and 35 and carry only a matric. Creating opportunities for our youth to become employed is my top priority,” said Winde.
The incentive will also complement national incentive schemes for the offshore BPO sector - which provides wage subsidisation for local employees for the first three years of operation. For the first and second year R40 000 per employee is provided, while R32 000 per employee is provided for the third year. These incentives aim reduce the cost of operations in the first six months by 50%.
“Internet Solutions was pleased to come on board with this incentive because if the Western Cape BPO sector grows, so does our client base. We are convinced that companies will take up permanent residence in the Western Cape once the six-month trial period is completed because we have a world-class offering that is very competitively priced,” said regional head of Internet Solutions, Stuart Birch.
The department has also implemented a training programme for call centre agents. Last year, 310 jobless youths were trained under the scheme and 309 have subsequently become employed.
“We are building the Western Cape into an attractive place to live and work by increasing our competitive edge in terms of pricing and by building an appropriately skilled workforce. Major players, such as Bloomberg and Amazon, have recognised this and have chosen to base their operations here. This incentive will induce others to follow suit and puts us on track to build the Western Cape into a world-class BPO and call centre hub,” said Winde.
