There are thousands of companies in Philippines getting these concessions in hundreds of PEZA (www.peza.gov.ph) zones all over the country. Unless there is a particular affiliation with that city or province among management, the number one attraction of Ilo Ilo is price, they will probably be able to do what they want to do there for 15% or more less than Manila.
The biggest downsides I see are the smaller pool of candidates with the qualities you're after and the rate of quality English language. Reliability and quality of regional comms infrastructure would be something else I would be keeping an eye on (though i don't think 99.9% uptime would be critical to the type of services they'll be providing.)
Is setting up in Ilo Ilo better than expanding in Manila? Time will tell but i'm sure they've got experts with specific Philippine BPO experience leading the way.
For me, the software and the management team for their industry contacts are the things that let this company stand out from the crowd, not the fact it's offshore and certainly not the fact they're opening something in Ilo Ilo.
Nice to see some income from receipts and a low spend last quarter.
As always DYOR
IAM Price at posting:
6.6¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
