Mumbai: Industry chamber Assocham (Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry) on Thursday (Nov 25, 2004) asked the Government to permit players in business process outsourcing (BPO) industry to share infrastructure for domestic and international operations.

"Sharing of telecommunication infrastructure facilities by BPO players will help them capture a larger chunk of BPO business," the chamber president Mahendra K Sanghi said in a memorandum to the Government.

He pointed out that the current policies prohibited collective use of dedicated connections for BPO players as permission was granted only on a case-by-case basis and that too only for companies having an annual turnover above Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) or the combined turnover of promoters above Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion).

In the case of domestic call centres, BSNL and MTNL continue to charge annual levy of Rs 15,000 over and above the annual rental of about Rs 3,000 for every telephone line, he said.

The chamber chief also demanded that Internet telephony be thrown open to international call centres.

Assocham proposed that to realise the enormous potential of the growing industry, individuals and small firms should be allowed to offer BPO services.