BPO firm Stellar expanding in Philippines

Stellar Philippines, a joint venture between business process outsourcing (BPO) company Stellar Global and listed firm Paxys Inc., will be putting up one site with at least 1,000 seats a year over the next few years to be able to keep up with the increasing global demand for outsourced services.

At the inauguration of the company’s second facility in the country on Wednesday, Stellar Philippines chief finance officer Pablito Lim said another site in Quezon City, in addition to the company’s existing Cubao and Eastwood facilities, would be put up next year.

For the next two years, he said the company would be focusing on Metro Manila alone. After that, Stellar Philippines would start establishing presence in the provinces.

Future sites should be registered with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) to enable the BPO service provider to take advantage of PEZA’s fiscal and nonfiscal perks, he said.

Each site on the drawing board will have about 1,000 seats, he said.

Depending on the location, Lim said the investment per facility would be about P300 million—P160 million for the site itself, including all the necessary equipment, and P140 million for working capital.

Stellar Philippines chief executive Edmund Macaso said putting up a company-owned building instead of just leasing space from existing and future developments is also a possibility.

“But that will depend on the nature of the business, on how much we will grow. Right now, we’re just partnering with real estate developers with PEZA-accredited facilities,” he said.