GERMAN technology firm Bosch Group has invested 500,000 euros in the Philippines to put up a call center that will centralize help desk services for its Asia Pacific units, a spokesperson said in a press briefing on Tuesday.

The automotive and industrial electronics firm formed a new subsidiary--Robert Bosch Communication Center, Inc.--to run an information technology (IT) help desk starting January and should have as much as 200 seats by yearend.

The call center in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City will provide computer and network troubleshooting to some 30,000 Bosch associates in the region.

India has lately become known for its high tech, call center, Bollywood movie and car industries.  It draws the likes of Lindsay Lohan and used to draw the Beatles to its shores.  If there is some sort of thing that requires brain power, it has been outsourced to India.  Only a tiny fraction of the Indian population can have the opportunities that come form working in these well-paying jobs.  The rest of the millions toil away in poverty, often unable to feed themselves on a regular basis.  Because of not being able to feed themselves, they will never have the opportunity to seek out jobs that India is now famous.  In fact, they will likely suffer another generation of stunted growth and development.

My graduate work at Cornell University was on the right to food, so this topic is of special interest to me.  So, what prompted me to write this blog note that one of the largest English-language newspapers in India, the Hindustan Times is running a series on hunger in India called the “Hunger Project“.  The aim is to use the investigative resources of the paper to highlight what is fast becoming a hidden problem especially in the elite and rarefied English language world that the media occupy.  There are major problems with the articles so far on attempting the shock the reader with specific cases of severe malnourishment.  But, it goes so much deeper than that when one-half of all children in India have some form of micronutrient deficiency stemming not from diet choices made in the country, but instead from a lack of access to safe and nutritious food.  This lack of access to food is, according to General Comment 14 of the United Nations is a human rights violation.  If you want to learn more of hunger worldwide, visit IFPRI or Grain, both non-governmental organizations doing great work around the right to food and its complex politics.

Yahoo's been busy in Nebraska.  This week, the company announced the opening of both a data center and a call center in the state, and apparently the celebration was a big deal, with Jerry Yang and several high(-ish) ranking politicians all showing up.
Indeed, according to a post on Yodel Anecdotal, Jerry Yang, Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman, La Vista Mayor Douglas Kindig, Attorney General Jon Bruning, and Nebraska Congressman Lee Terry made appearances.  That's not a bad turnout.

As for some more substantial details relating to development, the data center is located in 180,000-square foot building, and the building is located in a small city called La Vista (hence Kindig's involvement).  It's expected to employ about 50 people, and without giving away any trade secrets, Yahoo's implied that the data center's rather "green," environmentally speaking.

Not as much is known about the sales and customer support call center - it presumably took less time and money to set up, thereby attracting less attention - but it's located in Omaha, and should help a few people earn paychecks, too.

One possible interpretation of all this activity is that Yahoo's very optimistic about its future even as Microsoft's stepping in to influence the search and advertising side of things.

Residents of the Woodcreek Farms subdivision are worried about the impact Verizon's new call center will have on the community.  The telecommunications giant broke ground on the 145,000 square foot facility at Spears Creek Church Road and I-20 a couple months ago.

The call center is expected to bring 1,500 new jobs into the area. "There should be some traffic signals there, and some widening of the roads" says homeowner Todd Walter.  Walter says plans for the new call center were a "secret" between Richland County and Verizon.