South African telecommunications prices may fall to a level that would make local costs comparable to those of India, says Western Cape premier Ebrahim Rasool.
Speaking at the opening of the new Grintek Cape Town offices today, Rasool said that while he did not want to speculate on future telecoms costs, he felt they would fall dramatically.
"Our own preliminary investigations show that this will be the case," he said.
Rasool visited Holland and the UK in August to promote the Western Cape as a call centre and business processing operations destination for foreign companies.
"While we will never be directly comparable with India, we will develop our own niche in being able to provide a workforce that is able to deal with complex problem-solving that would require 'off-script` dialogue," he said.
Rasool said outsourcing call centres is not viewed as an interim measure for the Western Cape, "but rather that it is where we want to be".
"Attracting the large accounts to the Western Cape is tough, but it is even tougher to ensure they stay, because once they leave they never return and so service is vitally important," said Angelo Manzoni, managing executive of Grintek`s enterprise division.
Grintek Technologies COO Gavin Swanepoel said Cape Town had developed into a major player in the call centre industry as the city had the advantages of high service quality, a stable workforce and a robust skills base.
"Grintek wants to be a major player in this market. We are confident we can provide the skills, products, commitment and enthusiasm to make a contribution to economic development and to partner the public sector in ongoing efforts to create jobs and combat poverty," he said.
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