Avasant Delegation conducts feasibility study of IT call centers in Antigua and Barbuda

Antigua & Barbados, June 23, 2011, In order to determine market opportunities, a feasibility study on Antigua and Barbuda's IT and Call Centre services was conducted by a delegation from Avasant and South-South News. Minister of Information, Broadcasting, Telecommunications, Science and Technology, Dr the Honourable Edmond Mansoor said, Antigua and Barbuda's ICT sector can become more competitive especially as it relates to the development of telecentres and call centres. "The government is very committed to the development of the ICT sector in all of its facets. There is a very strong community component but there is also a strong thrust to the creation of sustainable employment for young people in particular. The Honourable Prime Minister was very pleased to welcome this delegation and we expect that over the upcoming months that more talks will take place." Dr Mansoor said. Following a visit to Antigua in February 2011, South-South News is considering establishing a bureau in Antigua and Barbuda to serve the archipelago of English speaking Caribbean islands. South-South News is a digital media platform for the countries of the South that is facilitating, connecting, and publishing news on various efforts in sustainable economic and social development to audiences and multiple constituencies not only in the South but also around the world. "One of the things that we did after we first came here was to run a story about the success of Antigua and Barbuda in the area of ICT, pointing out the infrastructure, the fiber optic cable as well as the connectivity that exists here." President of South South News, Ambassador Francis Lorenzo said.  "This has now been used as one of the best practices that we share with other countries when we talk about forging direct investment as well as the participation of the private sector to come to Antigua and Barbuda, ICT plays a huge role. And I think the country is going in the right direction." He added. Meanwhile Partner at Avasant, Anupam Govil has visited and assessed the key parameters for setting up an ICT or Call Centre operation in Antigua. Govil advises a number of multi-national ICT and Call Centre companies who establish such operations in different countries around the world. While in Antigua, Govil looked at a number of areas including the infrastructure, connectivity, workforce skills, business environment and policies for setting up an ICT or Call Centre operation here. "What I found is Antigua has a very unique position especially in the English speaking Caribbean. It has very good skills in certain areas in the call centre side, specifically customer and technical support. I see huge potential for data centre related activity because of the fibre coming here and true redundancy which is not available in many islands." Govil said. Govil indicated that preliminary results show that the signs are very positive. "Once we have all this information put together we should be able to bring investors into these sectors." He said. Antigua & Barbuda's Ambassador to the United Nations, Dr John W Ashe, who was instrumental in establishing the relationship with the Delegation, indicated that the relationship with the organization continues to grow.  "We are now on a different dimension. When we were last here the emphasis was placed on the Public Private People Partnership. We are now on the second plank, the Private, and the visit here introduces a more concrete pillar to those three legs of the pillar." Ambassador Ashe said.