Primus to replace Indian staff with Canadians

I / Toronto April 24, 2009, 12:58 IST

Internet service provider Primus Canada is replacing some of its call centre staff in India with Canadian representatives as that will make it eligible for getting financial incentives from the New Brunswick government.    

The Toronto-based company said its high-speed Internet customers will no longer have their service or technical help calls handled by a third party in Mumbai. Instead, their calls will go through Primus's own call centre in Edmundston, New Brunswick.    

Primus has relied on workers in India to handle calls for the past five years. It has committed to hire 113 new employees in Edmundston by the end of next year, in return for about $850,000 from the New Brunswick government, Rob Warden, vice-president of residential marketing, said.    

He called the financial incentive "a motivator", but said the company would have made the move regardless.  

When the company hires an additional 113 agents in its call centre in Edmundston, as it had announced last month, all technical support calls will be handled in Canada, the company said.     

 However, it said some non-technical jobs will still be offshore.  

New Brunswick is one of Canada's three maritime provinces.