The Citibank building in New Kingston where Verizon will house a contact centre

The Major US telecommunications company, Verizon Wireless is to establish a call centre in the New Kingston business district within the next two months in what appears to be renewed interest by IT firms in the Jamaican capital, according to Business Observer sources.

Verizon officials were not immediately available for comment, but according to the sources the call centre will initially occupy three floors in the Citibank Building on Knutsford Boulevard and employ 150 people. Employment is expected to double within 18 months.

Verizon is to use the Kingston call centre to provide service support to its millions of mobile telephone customers across the United States.

The Verizon project is scheduled for start-up by the end of July, and if successful could be a catalyst for other US firms looking for near-shore locations to establish call centres to head for Kingston.

At least four other firms are currently actively scouting Kingston, looking for suitable, cost-effective accommodation and the possibility of hiring qualified staff.

Jampro, the government's investment promotions agency, without being specific about potential investors - including Verizon - confirmed a growing interest in Jamaica, and Kingston, by firms seeking to establish call centres.

"This is the most vibrant period we have had for contact centre enquiries," said Michael McMorris, Jampro's director for marketing.

Since the collapse of several Kingston-based companies in government's IT financing support debacle four years ago, contact centres, and related businesses, have largely concentrated in Montego Bay, on the north shore, where 4000 people are employed in the sector.

Recently, though, there has been some activity in Portmore, just outside the capital. For instance, eServices, the company operated by Patrick Casserly - named in April as the Observer's Business Leader for 2003 - is establishing a contact centre at Portmore where it will employ 300 to add to its 1,200 in Montego Bay.

Casserly has gobbled up the entire 50,000 square feet of the government's Factories Corporation latest development at Naggo Head, in Portmore, as well as recently converted space at the Garmex freezone on Marcus Drive in Kingston.

"There is an immediate need for at least 60,000 square feet of space" in Kingston for call centres, according to one industry source.

The growing interest in Jamaica, sector analysts say, was boosted in part by a major conference on the industry held in Montego Bay in February when Jamaica showed off its telecommunications infrastructure, told American players that it has a large pool of trainable English-speakers and shopped around its proximity to the United States.

"(The interest) validates our information that US companies are indeed looking for near-shore solutions," said an industry analyst.

Contact and call centres close to the United States and the companies for which they provide services are becoming increasingly fashionable because of the desire of the client firms to be near to the operations where they can help to oversee standards and monitor performance.

While the corporate business district of New Kingston is a preferred location for potential new players in the sector, high-cost rentals could be disincentives, particularly when compared to comparable locations in somewhere like Costa Rica.

Additionally, there is not an over-abundance of large, open, single-storey warehouse-type space with the amenities required for offices. This could slow down the conversion of interest in specific projects.

"Any operation that has decided that Jamaica is viable for them would, typically, be looking to be operational within two to three months," said Jampro's McMorris.

The upshot is that the availability of appropriate space is critical to closing deals, given the speed with which such ventures unfold. Analysts suggest that the growing attention to Kingston could open opportunities for developers who want to get in on the business.

Developers, however, are cautious, mindful of the great fanfare with which the government's IT project was lauched in the late 1990s and technology minister Phillip Paulwell's promise of 40,000 jobs in three years. Hundreds of millions of dollars earned from the sale of mobile telephone licences were loaned to dubious companies, which soon went belly-up - in some cases their operators appeared less than honest - leaving taxpayers holding the bag.

Stephen Facey, managing director of Pan Jamaican Investments, which is among the island's oldest developers, said that his firm was looking at the possibility of meetiing genuine demand for call contact/call centre space. But there is no firm commitment.

"We are trying to understand the industry and the way it works," Facey said.

Developers, Facey pointed out, "required low-cost funds and long-term commitments" to make their ventures viable. "But the nature of the IT business doesn't always work like that," he said.

Glen Mellish, the managing director of Factories Corporation, said his company has additional lands available at Naggo Head, which could be developed into call centre space.

"We are investigating the possibility of putting up other buildings," Mellish said. ".We are also willing to jointly develop the lands with the private investors. We will dispose of lands to facilitate development."

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