Epixtar Corp to put up largest contact center facility in Clark

Miami-based business process outsourcing (BPO) provider Epixtar Corp. has signed a five-year lease to occupy a 3,696-square meter property at the Clark Special Economic Zone in line with its aggressive expansion in the Philippines.

The facility, called Epixtar Plaza, will have 800 seats of contact center capacity when completed. It is expected to be fully operational in the first quarter of 2005.

Epixtar Plaza will be the largest voice-based contact center in the zone and a significant regional employer upon operations, company officials said.

Other contact center facilities operating within Clark are America Online (AOL) and global package delivery company UPS.

"Epixtar Plaza represents our intelligent approach to site selection. With Clark’s modern infrastructure, associated government incentives, and access to an ample talent pool we have made a great choice locating in an area familiar to most US executives." Epixtar president and chief executive officer David Srour said.

Epixtar presently operates a 250-seat call center in the Manila suburb of Alabang, Muntinlupa, and the company is finalizing development plans for a 200-seat facility in Dumaguete in the Visayas.

The company has also completed 350 seats of its 1,600 seat flagship facility, Epixtar House, at the Eastwood City Cyber Park in Libis, Quezon City.

Just last week, Epixtar announced plans to acquire Innovative Marketing Strategies, Inc. (IMS) and its 150-seat call center in Makati. The IMS transaction will give Epixtar three US centers totaling approximately 400 seats. Once this phased development is complete, the company will have as much as 3,000 seats of contact center capacity in the Philippines and 400 in the US

Epixtar is considering expanding in other areas of the Philippines and hopes to be operating at least 5,000 seats by the end of next year.

The company’s strategy of fast growth in the Philippines is in response to global demand for quality outsourcing solutions. "Many US businesses, particularly in the telecommunications and financial services sectors, are rapidly increasing the size of their offshore outsourcing campaigns," Epixtar executive vice-president and head of sales Gerald Dunne said.

Epixtar is the parent company of Epixtar International Contact Center Group Ltd. (EICCG), Epixtar Communications Corp. (ECC) and the NOL Group Inc. (NOL).

EICCG, Epixtar’s most active subsidiary, is a BPO company – aggregating contact center capacity and robust telephony infrastructure to deliver comprehensive, turnkey services to the enterprise market.

ECC on the other hand, is a wholesale telecommunications provider while NOL provides Internet services to small and medium-sized businesses.