February 17, 2006
The telecommunications needs of foreign laborers in Taiwan have created a foreign labor telecom market totaling
NTD 15 billion annually. In order to maintain their market shares, Taiwanese telecom companies have developed customer service systems staffed by personnel that speak Thai, Indonesian and Vietnamese languages.
Foreign laborers have long preferred to use pre-paid mobile phone cards because they lend themselves more readily to frugal budgeting. While Taiwan's telecoms initially targeted young Taiwanese as their primary pre-paid phone card market, they soon discovered the cards had attracted a substantial customer base of foreign laborers.
In 1998, KG Telecom became the first company in Taiwan to offer pre-paid cards. Soon after, Far EasTone (which has since acquired KGT) and Taiwan Cellular started offering their own pre-paid cards.
Taiwan Cellular began providing Thai-language customer service in 1999. The company now receives 500-1,400 customer service calls from Thai speakers each month. Far EasTone has employed customer service personnel that speak Thai, Indonesian and Vietnamese since 2000. The firm has hired Thai spouses of Taiwanese to fill many of its positions.
The number of legal foreign laborers in Taiwan has risen from 150,000 in 1994 to 327,000 as of the end of 2005. Numbering over 98,000, Thai laborers make up the greatest portion of foreign laborers in Taiwan. In addition to the substantial telecom market for foreign laborers, financial institutions and underground currency remittance enterprises have also sprung up to meet the particular financial needs of foreign laborers.
(China Times)
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