eTelecare Global Solutions has completed the purchase of the Phone House Group, a subsidiary of Carphone Warehouse.

eTelecare (News - Alert) is a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) company with 15 contact centers employing over 14 000 people across the U.S., Philippines, Nicaragua and now South Africa.

"The call center industry is well positioned and should continue to experience growth as companies begin to outsource in an effort to reduce costs. The acquisition will extend eTelecare's business into the South African market and is expected to add an additional 500 jobs locally over the next twelve months," said Wynand Schutte, managing director of eTelecare South Africa, in a statement.

"Since 2003, South Africa has experienced a dramatic expansion in call centre employment due to its skilled, multi-lingual labour force providing cost-effective, dependable service to local and international clients," said Mayor Helen Zille. "We are now seen as a world class destination."

eTelecare officials said that the call center employment growth has been assisted by the Government Assistance and Support program (GAS), which provides training grants and job creation incentives to BPO companies.

Following cabinets approval of a BPO&O business strategy in December 2006, the government has made use of GAS to assist it in reaching its goal of creating of 100 000 jobs by 2010.

Founded in 1999, eTelecare Global Solutions is a provider of business process outsourcing (BPO) focusing on the complex, voice and non-voice based segment of customer-care services.

It provides a range of services, including technical support, customer service, sales, customer retention, chat and email from both onshore and offshore locations. Services are provided from delivery centers in the Philippines, United States, Nicaragua, and South Africa.

In March eTelecare Global Solutions had announced completion of the acquisition of The Phone House (Proprietary) Limited, a BPO Services subsidiary of Talk Talk Group Limited, the telecommunications division of The Carphone Warehouse (News - Alert) Group PLC.

In conjunction with the purchase of The Phone House, eTelecare entered into a three year agreement to provide BPO services to Talk Talk Group customers in the United Kingdom. The acquisition will enable eTelecare to further expand its global delivery network, by adding approximately 400 employees in Cape Town, South Africa.