The company Allied Global has invested $8 million in the complex, located in San Pedro Sula.
According to the company, the call center will employ more than 3,000 people.
Manuel Gordo, company representative explained that it has 4 call centers in Guatemala, and this is the first on Honduran soil.
"Our company is characterized by dynamic, vertical, fast reactions and a willingness to invest in growth, with the highest standards of operation, and an awareness that human resources and welfare is the main strength and the heart of the business", said Gordo, according to tiempo.hn.
The Secretary of Labor, Felicito Avila, recognizes the obstacles that bureaucracy puts in the way of investors.
While a new call center, funded with Guatemalan capital, starts operations in San Pedro Sula giving jobs to hundreds of young people, another, backed with Philippino capital, is closing because of the slowness or refusal of the authorities to grant free zone privileges, and is about to make about 600 workers redundant.
More than twenty companies from the services and technology sectors are evaluating coming to the country.
The positive economic performance being experienced by Honduras explains in large part, the decision of more than twenty foreign companies to exploring the possibility of choosing the country as a destination for their operations.
Representatives of FIDE Investment and Exports announced that it is likely that some of these decisions will take shape in the second half of the year.
Representatives from call center and outsourcing companies told president Porfirio Lobo their intention of investing in the country.
Executives from Ovum, Arledge Company and Harts Group met with Grupo Karim's, the administrator of Altia Business Park.
"These companies operate in the call center industry, server support, back office services, telemarketing and providing operation centers for regional corporations", explained an article in Proceso Digital.
The first tower of Altia Communications Park will be opened in February.
Rubén Sorto is the marketing manager of Grupo Karim, developer of the project. He explained that in spite of the political crisis, several international companies are currently negotiating to operate from the park.
"The country has proper conditions for installing this brand of intelligent buildings, assures Sorto: it has the best fiber optics network of Central America at a low price, 410 bilingual schools ... that will provide the workers required by the corporations operating from Altia. ... Some 200 people are working almost 12 hours a day to make Altia a reality", reports Laprensahn.com.
Companies from the United States are investigating the availability of bi-lingual personnel, which would enable the installation of customer service call centers.
Similar to other countries in the region, Honduras has a U.S. compatible time zone and a close geographic location. Adding to these advantages is a building infrastructure that is being left behind by factories closing down due to the decline in demand for their products.
The company Affiliated Computer Services (ACS) will select the bilingual personnel for its future call center on the 19th and 20th of June.
The event, which is organized by the Foundation for Export Investment and Development (Fide), is in the planning stage for the implementation of this project.
The coordinator of Fide, Carolina Pascua, said to LaPrensa.hn: "...
FTAs, a skilled workforce and the proximity to strategic markets are among the attractions for investors in Nicaragua.
In its April 2009 issue, Revista Summa will publish an exclusive interview with Javier Chamorro, Executive Director of ProNicaragua which is directed at getting to know the advances in attracting foreign direct investment and the plans that will be developed during 2009.
The decline in the garment industry, a product of the crisis, means that industrial parks must diversify.
Daniel Facussé, president of the Honduran Maquila Association, spoke to La Prensa of Honduras about the situation of the sector and free trade zones in the face of the global crisis.
He stressed that industrial parks should invest and diversify their activities since investments are not expected in maquila this year, and he highlighted the call center industry as the best option: "Yes, this is a sector that will grow and might be able to handle the crisis. We should export services to generate more income. ... The advantage is that the Honduran English accent is neutral, so Americans, who are the ones who use this service, will not be able to identify where they are calling."
The mission, which comprises members of the Chamber of Commerce of Madrid, is in the country to investigate the investment climate.
Latribuna.hn publishes in its website: "Miguel Trujillo, a representative of Avalos Data Processing in Spain, said that the idea of the tour is to have the experience of Honduras, a country which is considered exceptional for the interests of their businesses, whose activities are centered chiefly in the area of the telecommunications, data processing, and call centers."