ICT firms flock to Quezon City

Quezon City is fast emerging as the most preferred location by information and communications technology companies, an ICT consultant said yesterday.

Nathan Zulueta, a consultant on ICT promotions and development at the Office of Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr., said records from the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) and Board of Investment (BOI) showed that ICT investments in the city are on the upswing.

“To date, 24 IT parks and zones are PEZA-accredited and more than 15 ICT companies are BOI-registered. Seventy ICT companies with billions in investments are now operating in QC specially those engaged in contact centers, animations, medical and legal transcriptions, software development, business process outsourcing, business solution providers and telecommunication,” Zulueta told The STAR in an interview.

He said Quezon City is now the preferred home of some of the biggest outsourcing companies: TeleTech, Convergys, eTelecare, Sykes, Sitel, NCO, ICT, Epixtar, Manulife, APAC, Stellar, Clientlogic, Toei Animation, Citibank, HTMT, IBM Dacks, and Advances Contact Solutions.

Zulueta said ICT development in the city did not happen overnight but is a product of private sector and local government partnership. The local government support services had been beefed up to meet the challenges of the fast emerging industry.

“Promoting QC as a destination of choice of offshoring and outsourcing companies is Mayor Belmonte’s ultimate goal. The city has been declared the ‘ICT Capital’ three years ago to ensure its competitiveness and herald its continued growth,” Zulueta said.       – Perseus Echeminada