• Akron, Ohio's InfoCision, a telemarketing company, received a five-year state tax credit to open a call center in Riverside, Ohio. The company expects to create 250 jobs in the first three years of operation.
  
  Dayton Daily News, 7 Dec. 2005

• The ACI Telecentrics call center in Chadron, Nebraska is closing. At least 60 people will lose their jobs.
  
  Rapid City Journal, 7 Dec. 2005

• Banker HSBC opened a 1,300 person call center in Colombo, Sri Lanka which could expand to 3,000 people. It is currently the biggest center in the country, where there are about 30 call center operators. Sri Lanka beat neighboring India for the center.
  
  Forbes.com, 6 Dec. 2005

• The L.L. Bean call center in Bangor, Maine, which opened in the fall, employs 700 people -- at least during the holidays. It is the company's fourth Maine call center.
  
  Bangor News, 5 Dec. 2005

• The business process outsourcing division of Berlin-based electrical engineering giant Siemens is opening a call center in Caracas, Venezuela, with the help of the Venezuelan human resources company Compuserman Internacional. According to the Daily Journal, the partnership has call centers in Columbia, Ecuador, and Peru.
  
  Daily Journal, 5 Dec. 2005

• Riyadh-based Arab National Bank (ANB) is opening a new call center with 30 agents and adding 165 to an existing one, both in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
  
  ITP.net, 4 Dec. 2005

• The United Way is introducing a crisis hotline in Detroit. Area residents dialing 2-1-1 will be connected with the United Way's new 24-hour, multi-lingual call center.
  
  Detroit Free Press, 2 Dec. 2005

In addition to the usual news of the Indian, Philippines, and Irish call center markets, we've been getting news of burgeoning markets in South Africa, Wales, and Sri Lanka.

According to Business Day of Johannesburg, South Africa, "The number of operations grew 39% in 2005, with 167 centers now employing 14,345 people. A year ago the region had 116 centers employing 10,014 staff, according to Calling the Cape, an organization that promotes the region to foreign firms looking for cheaper offshore locations for their call-centre businesses."

The Western Mail (via IC Wales) in Wales reports: "The 160 contact centres in Wales employ more than 24,000 people; a figure the industry expects will grow by between 20 and 30% in the next three years."

As we report elsewhere in this weekly update, banker HSBC chose Sri Lanka over India for their new call center. The Gulf Times says: "With around 30 operators, Sri Lanka's business process outsourcing (BPO) is worth about $100mn, according to a survey conducted by the local Information Communication and Technology Agency (ICTA). For Sri Lanka, much of the outsourcing business is from Europe, Scandinavia and Australia."

In other news, as one American call center pays a blind woman $200,000 in a discrimination settlement, a call center for the blind opens in India.

Americall Group, a Naperville, Illinois telemarketing company, wouldn't hire the woman because it didn't think it could accommodate her seeing-eye dog. The company will pay the woman $200,000 in a court-based settlement. According to United Press International and the Chicago Sun-Times, Americall employs 3,000 people in Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, as well as some in Mexico and the Dominican Republic.

The Economic Times in India reports that Late Vasantrao Sule Medical and Charitable Trust is opening a call center called Blindline that will hire unemployed visually impaired youths exclusively. "The call centre will cater to the needs of unemployed youths by providing information about jobs available in Mumbai and Thane," social activist Dr. Nitin Sule told the Economic Times.