– media invited but shut out
President Bharrat Jagdeo while singing the praises of call centre Qualfon during a visit to the company’s Beterverwatging location called for more Guyanese to invest in such businesses since the cost of bandwidth will soon be a fraction of what it is at present with two fibre optic cables being brought to these shores.
While the invited media corps cooled their heels for over an hour in the lobby at Qualfon, the President toured the facility and later held a closed door meeting with company officials.
Jagdeo later revealed that the company, which employs 1,200 of mostly young people, has immediate plans to expand its business investment here once the cost for bandwidth becomes cheaper.
“I am glad that I came here today. I have seen this impressive growth from very humble beginnings [to what] this company has achieved,” the President said.
He recalled that Qualfon came to Guyana when the “going was very difficult at that time they had a whole range of issues surrounding provision of bandwidth and its reliability.
“They overcame the initial hurdles and had to make special arrangements including satellite redundancy to get to where they are today…”
He described the company’s operation as “impressive” and said that it is now managed entirely by Guyanese.
“I have always said that the cheaper bandwidth, more reliable bandwidth could generate 25,000 jobs… Because of that issue being resolved later this year, that is, fibre optic cables coming in, [it] has expansion plans which are immediate.”
He said ten of thousands Guyanese could find opportunity in the sector once the cables come into the country providing cheaper and reliable bandwidth.
According to the President, Guyana is signing a contract with Brazil, which is providing the fibre optic cable to the government, and which would be used mainly to link government institutions, for the purchase of the bandwidth at a fraction of the cost being paid at present.
He said the government is now seeking civil work contractors to lay the cable while the supplier of the cable has already been selected.
“I anticipate within the next two or three months all of these pieces will come together and we would start laying that cable,” the President said adding that GT&T cable is expected by mid year.
Qualfon said it opened its door to the public in Guyana in November 2005 making it the third office outside Mexico, where its headquarters is located.
The company started with 50 agents and it described the first years as challenging, but the “management turned challenges into areas of opportunity and have emerged [successful] in endeavours.”
At first the company only rented part of the building it is located in but now it occupies the entire building. The company boasted about contributing to Guyana’s economy by using local vendors for supplies, maintenance and transportation.
“Among many of Qualfon Guyana’s noted achievement are the opening of its foundation during the year 2006 which has helped with the distribution of milk, installing their first radio station to improve their services and being recognised with the Best Partner Award by their clients, thanks to their world class Guyanese workforce,” the company said.
Shut out
Meanwhile, while the media were invited to cover Jagdeo’s visit to Qualfon, journalists were not allowed to go beyond the company’s foyer.
During the entire visit, media operatives were forced to stand in the foyer for more than an hour, while the President toured the facility and then met company officials.
After the tour and meeting, representatives from the Mexico-based company refused to take questions, but instead issued a press release, “to make life easier for you guys”, as one of its officials said.
Stabroek News has for weeks been seeking to have an interview with the company’s executives but this has not been granted.
Reports are that the company has a very high turnover of staff, as not only are the salaries paid far below par, but working conditions are not ideal.
Large companies usually route their calls through developing countries because it is cheaper, since they pay the agents a fraction of what they would have to pay persons doing the same jobs in places like the US, UK and Canada.