PAULWELL... Jamaican Government will aggressively resist legislation.

WESTERN BUREAU -- Commerce, Science and Technology Minister Philip Paulwell is worried that the island's Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector, which already failed to deliver on thousands of promised jobs, could crash if the United States passes a law requiring call centres to identify their location.

Against this background, he urged American investors on Friday to lobby against the recommended move.

"There are some law makers who are recommending, to the US Congress, a law that will require call centres to indicate up front to customers where they are located; and one of the reasons behind this is to discourage offshore facilities," Paulwell charged.

He told the Observer that the legislation, apart from having a negative impact on the island's ICT industry, would not help American investors to find opportunities for "more efficient" operations in the Caribbean.

The latter is, without a doubt, of great concern to Paulwell in light of the recent problems plaguing the sector.

The Government, a few years ago, pitched ICT as the engine through which more than 40,000 jobs would be provided over a three-year period. But at the end of March 2002, the sector only managed to cough up roughly 12,000 jobs.

A number of the companies that were expected to generate employment folded, including NetServ, despite an injection of millions of dollars by Government.

In urging the investors to lobby against the move requiring call centres to identify their location, Paulwell said the Jamaican Government would do everything in its power to aggressively resist the enactment of this legislation.

In September, the island's call centre thrust was also adversely affected by a decision taken by the US Congress and Senate to pass legislation to ensure that American consumers were able to block unwanted telemarketing calls via a national registry.

More than 50 million people have so far signed on to the do-not-call list.

But on Friday, Paulwell downplayed the impact of the do-not-call list as he addressed a function to officially open the National Asset Recovery Services (NARS) in Montego Bay.

NARS, a St Louis, USA-based company began operation in the Montego Bay Freezone in June with almost 450 workers.

Paulwell told his audience that the list could assist in generating more businesses for the island's call centres.

"With the do-not-call list, you will now have a list of persons who, if you were to call them they would tell you "no", so the fact that there is such a list now (it) will ensure that you don't waste time calling these people," Paulwell said, adding that despite the challenges, he was confident that the ICT sector was poised for growth.

"This business is not going to go away; we have had some setbacks but it is going to grow, and grow it will," the minister said.

It was during this address that he called on the investors present to lobby the US Government.

"(But) I want to ask for your support by asking you to write to your Congressmen and women to discourage the enactment of such a legislation," the minister said.

"It (the legislation) would be flying in the face of globalisation and it would not be auguring well for an industry like this one that can do so well for places like the Caribbean," he added.

The 26,000 square-foot facility, which Paulwell officially opened, can accommodate more than 1,200 agents and provides inbound and outbound customer solutions, including debt collection and data processing.

The facility is the American firm's first venture overseas and represents a US$3-million investment.

According to NARS president, Christopher Buehrle, the company plans to expand its workforce by another 500 within the next 12 months.

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