MANILA, Philippines—Business process outsourcing firm StarTek Inc. has secured a five-year contract to provide various customer support and technical services to American telecommunications company Cincinnati Bell.

Under the contract, StarTek will provide the telecom operator a full range of services both on the customer and the technical sides.

For customer management, StarTek will help Cincinnati Bell with sales, installation, care, technical support and retention programs.

For the technical support side, services to be rendered include hosted information technology infrastructure and application services. These cover interactive voice response, virtual queuing, voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) phone service, work force management, and quality assurance.

“We will design customer management solutions and technology services around the needs of Cincinnati Bell. We believe this approach and our focus on quality uniquely position StarTek in the marketplace,” StarTek president and chief executive Larry Jones said in a statement.

Both StarTek and Cincinnati Bell expect a seamless transition over the next 12 months.

StarTek currently has around 9,000 seats spread over 20 sites in the United States and Canada, with agents providing high-value voice and non-voice services to its clients. These services include customer care, sales support, complex order processing, accounts receivable management, technical support and other industry-specific functions.

Following the opening of its Philippine facility late last year, StarTek now has 400 employees and is hiring more. Its Makati facility has a 1,110-seat capacity.

In an earlier interview, Jones said the company was also looking at further expanding its presence in the country by opening more sites, most likely in other areas in Metro Manila and in Cebu.

In the near term, however, he said StarTek would just be concentrating on ramping up operations at its $10-million Makati facility, its first outside North America.