OPINION: Has the outbound call centre sector already pushed the public too far?

By Waheed Adam,

While the Call Center business seems to thrive in parts of Southern and East Africa, creating much-needed revenue, taxes and employment opportunities, the general public is expressing frustration rather than joy.

Most of Africa shares a favourable time zone with the UK, Nordics, and parts of Europe, is English/multi-lingual speaking, and has the expertise, technology and the will to service clients wherever they may be – and is preferred over competing countries such as India.

According to industry-wide reports such as BPESA and others, approximately 78% of these call centers offer support services, which are specific in what they do. However, the part that may frustrate many people is the remaining call centers that generate leads on behalf of their clients or brands; in other words, purely outbound calls.

Starting my own journey as what we then called a tele-canvasser (now termed a call-center agent) at the young age of 14, I understand the need to bring services to potential customers and generate business for the brand.

Hence, I am mostly polite to the agent calling, particularly if they have been trained well. In a world where WhatsApp calls/messages and voice notes are much of the order of the day when communicating with others, I find that my mobile phone does not ring as much as it used to a decade ago over the GSM and VOIP networks. And if it does, and it’s usually from a number not listed in my contact list, it is most likely from an outbound call center.

Industry-wide reports from organisations such as BPESA estimate the total workforce in South Africa in the sector to be approximately 261,000 agents (by late 2024) with 65,000 focusing on international clients. This number is said to have increased in 2025 and is expected to grow further in 2026.

Kenya, East Africa’s largest economy is said to have approximately 50 000 agents generating a significant US$500 million in annual revenue, and growing. Based on industry benchmarks of 50-70+ calls per day per agent, the total outbound volume is likely in the hundreds of millions per month across the entire industry. 

These unsolicited calls are increasing rapidly as the industry expands with a projected 11.1% CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) from 2025 to 2030. I may receive as many as 15-20 calls in one day, and sometimes these calls come through at night!

For the most part I try not to answer the call if I don’t recognize the number calling, but the caller will retry at least two or three times, and a few hours later the cycle begins again (a feature of the latest technology).

Once answered the cycle stops, well at least from that call center. And not answering a call when you have children is not an option, as one never knows whose device is being used in a potential emergency, right? Kind of between a rock and a hard place.

When I do eventually answer the call, there always seems to be a delay in the person talking to you on the other side, as the call only gets transferred to the agent when you answer, a design of the VOIP communication platforms/PABX aimed at agent efficiency.

And then the infamous “hello, how you” rings in your ears and my immediate thought is, why, why, why did I answer the call? As I said earlier, I am usually polite and gently squeeze the words in during any breath-break the agent may take – “I am not interested” - and end the call after the agent acknowledges it.

But my patience wears thin after a few more of these calls and I lose any form of empathy as my workday or family time is repeatedly interrupted. Research suggests that constant interruptions, such as back-to-back calls, make it difficult to maintain flow, and it can take up to 23 minutes to refocus after a disruption. 

I tried True Caller, an option that I thought worked really well, until more recently when I learnt that masking numbers is now possible which explains why it is always a different number calling making it difficult for True Caller to identify and block a number.

And yes, I could just ignore these calls from numbers I don’t recognize but it does not come without some risk of losing a business deal, or attending to an emergency, or that online order about to be delivered from your favourite store.

What can be done about it you may ask. Should there be some form of regulation to limit these unsolicited calls? And how is it to be measured? We know regulators usually come in after the fact and when the public or industry cries out for help.

Is there a role for WASPA (Wireless Application Services Providers Association), South Africa’s self-regulatory body that serves the mobile world, and what would that look like? Kenya does not have a version of WASPA and therefore wholly depend on the Regulators. Should the call center industry regulate itself before they tip the scale of public outcry forever damaging the opportunities that lie before them?

Or should you and I learn to drop the call during that one or two second delay when answering? The option of requesting to be placed in the DNC listing (do not contact) with your mobile operator does not seem to stop these calls in its current form (such as with SMS marketing) as these call centers shuffle the numbers they use to call you making it impossible to recognize the source of the call. As you may gather, applying any form of control will be no easy feat and the probable reason why we don’t have any regulation as yet.

What I can say, and without doubt, is that the outbound call center industry is heading for a disaster if there is no intervention, much like we are seeing with the international SMS pricing model that MNO’s (Mobile Network Operators) implemented a while ago. We warned them and they did not listen. MEF (Mobile Ecosystem Forum), a global trade body, even started a working group/committee to highlight the negative impact it would have. It was ignored. And now their revenue has declined significantly as a result, and they seem puzzled about why!

“Call Centres provide an important service for brands and consumers – but only when they operate in a way that is ethical and respectful. MEF encourages all outbound call centers to think carefully about their behavior as continuing to ignore the issues will lead to a clamp down by regulators, and more and more consumers refusing any call they don’t recognize. This would have a knock-on effect for the entire industry. A bit like continuing to overfish the oceans; in the short term there is money to be made, but in the long term the entire outbound call center industry will disappear.” Says Dario Betti, CEO of MEF.

Dario has a good point. The call centers are reaching the peak of public tolerance and if not managed better from here on it will lead to a massive push-back forcing regulators to act, rather than the industry to self-regulate.

The outcomes are then likely to be tougher than required and this will certainly negatively impact these companies. As much as I understand the need for the service, I personally feel it’s consuming a significant part of my every day and becoming invasive.

You know this when you stand around a braai or nyama choma (bbq) and instead of talking about sports or children’s achievements, we talk about the irritation of these unsolicited calls comparing who got the worse end of the line.

While I portray the African environment, I am certain it is fast becoming a global market issue. The MEF (Mobile Ecosystem Forum) is a member-led global trade body and perhaps is best suited to conduct research across markets to ascertain the best way forward. Watch this space for more.

The writer, Waheed Adam, is the Executive Chairman of iTouch and a Vice-Chair of MEF (Mobile Ecosystem Forum)