"ACS wants to be the global contact center of choice and we would like to establish our global footprint through relationships with leading global BPO companies like WNS," said Victor M. Endaya, president/CEO of ACS.

The partnership to be known as WNS Philippines Inc. will be majority owned by WNS and will offer its entire range of BPO services to global clients across industries. The company has set up its first delivery center in Manila and will initially scale to 200 seats, Endaya said.

ACS was established in 1996 and is the country’s largest contact center providing services to the top Fortune 500 companies in the US, UK, Australia, Canada and the Philippines.

WNS with over 18,000 employees is passionate about building a market-leading company valued by clients, employees, business partners, investors and communities. Earlier this year, WNS announced the opening of its delivery center in Bucharest, Romania, where it provides European language skills and high-end finance and accounting services for global clients.

A survey of global research firm Frost & Sullivan said the Philippines is the third largest English-speaking nation in the world that produces 350,000 college graduates of highly educated talent pool needed by BPO services.

ACS chairman Tarcisio M. Medalla said the partnership is a step towards the strategic direction of becoming a global BPO player.

"With the joint venture, WNS is executing its strategy to expand its global delivery network. This expansion further enables us to bring a large high quality talent pool to help solve the business challenges of our clients while diversifying the geographic risks of delivery," said Anup Gupta, COO, WNS Group. "In forming the venture with Advanced Contact Solutions, WNS has partnered with a local market leader that shares our vision of delivering high quality BPO services to clients."

ACS is a publicly listed company through its mother company, Paxys (PAX) and is the first call center listed in the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE). ACS is an ISO 900: 2001 Quality systems certified company and operates 6 sites ( four in Manila, and in Laguna/Batangas provinces).

As of 2003, ACS has grown from 300 employees to its over 6000 manpower complement it has today. This shows that the Filipino can compete with the world’s best in the BPO and Contact Centers.