Telvista to Relocate US Call Center Operations Through Acquisition or Alliance

Call center operator Telvista, owned by Mexican telecoms conglomerate Grupo Carso, plans to relocate operations in the US to Argentina by the end of the year, local newspaper Infobae reported.

According to the newspaper, Carso, which also owns Telmex and América Móvil, is studying whether to start Telvista operations in Argentina through an acquisition or a strategic alliance with another company.

Telvista began operations in 1997 as a division of CompUSA, delivering technical support to retail customers and helpdesk solutions to corporate clients.

Headquartered in Dallas, Telvista has nearly 5,000 employees distributed in nine call and contact centers in the US and Mexico.

Operations in the US mainly focus on the corporate segment and the Hispanic community.

The call center sector in Argentina has experienced a boost since 2002 due to the peso's devaluation, the high quality of local human resources and the use of IP technologies for communications.

The Argentine call center industry is expected to reach 60,000 employees by 2008 with total investment of 200mn pesos (US$65mn), according to a report from local consultancy Convergencia.

Atento, Sikes Teleperformance, TeleTech and Action line are among the key operators in the local market.

The Argentine unit of US call center operator TeleTech recently said it had invested nearly US$4mn to open a new call center in Buenos Aires, while CRM services provider Arvato Services, a subsidiary of German media conglomerate Bertelsmann, as well as German equipment supplier Siemens (NYSE: SI) also have call centers in the country.

BNAmericas.com"

Posted to the site on 1st September 2006