Today in Summerside, Premier Pat Binns cut the ribbon to officially open the second Watts Communications Call Centre on Prince Edward Island. On hand to assist with the opening were Colin Taylor, President of Watts Communications; Fred Morash, President and CEO, Island Tel; and Wes MacAleer, Minister of Economic Development and Tourism.
"Today's opening demonstrates the success of the Charlottetown centre and is another example of the provincial government's commitment to fulfilling its economic development strategy," said Premier Binns. "The Summerside centre is indicative of PEI's ability to effectively compete in a very competitive global telecommunications industry."
Watts employs over 200 people in the Charlottetown centre and another 210 employees at its Toronto call centre. The recent success of the company and a need to expand the Charlottetown centre to make room for new customers was the reason Watts needed to open a new call centre. Currently, the Charlottetown Centre is answering calls for AST Computers, Canon Canada, Reader's Digest, Sympatico, Newcourt Financial and Cebra/Merx, the on-line bidding service of the federal and several provincial governments.
"Prince Edward Island looks very appealing from the perspective of a communications company like Watts," said Taylor. "Having Island Tel to meet our telecommunications infrastructure needs, Holland College to provide us with training programs and dedicated, hard-working individuals to fulfill our employment requirements, places PEI on top."
"At Island Tel, we are proud to provide Watts Communications with our telecommunications services," said Morash. "The continued success of Watts illustrates the fact that Prince Edward Island has a world class telecommunications network and is an excellent location for call centres."
Minister MacAleer agrees. "The ability for Watts to establish itself on PEI has required the cooperation of a number of organizations and the opening of a second facility proves all parties involved have been successful. At full capacity, the Summerside Centre will create 240 jobs for the Prince County area. This illustrates the tremendous impact another call centre will have on the Island economy," adds MacAleer.
The new Summerside call centre is located in the Summerside Industrial Park.