16 Feb 2006

Telephone call centre industry set to come to American Samoa

9:27 am on 16 February 2006

A company called Information Technology American Samoa, or ITAS, looks set to introduce the call service industry to the territory.

The company's CEO says it's been two and a half years since he and his partners have been exploring a suitable business venture to replace the canneries.

Mark Hunsaker, who lived in American Samoa n the 1970s said the expiration of 936 tax incentives is what prompted him to study an industry that could be viable for American Samoa.

Mr Hunsaker says ITAS wants to set up what he calls a contact centre.

He says the difference between a contact centre and a call centre is that it will also handle faxes and emails.

Mr Hunsaker says there will be many job opportunities once the project is under way:

"During the first year we'll probably go to a 200 seat facility. And 200 seats means 600 employees because we operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. We can't ever shut down because the companies that we're representing are very large companies in the United States that have contact with their customers 24 hours a day."

ITAS hopes to be operating by the middle of the year.