In the last two (2) years, different foreign companies such as MasterCard, Dell Computers and call center operators such as Atento, Sitel, BT and others have visited Panama, interested in setting up and operating call service centers, since there is a good amount of bilingual young people, competitive real estate prices, available space for rent or purchase, excellent living conditions for expatriate personnel, efficient telecommunications, plus Panama’s dollar denominated economy.
However, a US$1.00 tax on international calls was a major road block, and thus despite all other incentives, Panama was non-competitive and taken out of the map of target countries for call centers.
A new Law No. 54 of 25th October, 2001 , creates a powerful incentive by excluding all telephone traffic from so-called "Call Centers" from the payment of a US$1.00 tax imposed to all other international calls from Panama. In order to qualify as an exempted call center, any individual or corporation
