Frontier Communications, a company that provides broadband, voice, satellite video and a variety of other related services, has opened up a new call center at the Eastbay Technology Park and is expected to eventually hire about 550 individuals to staff the center. 

“We are looking for people that can delight our customers,” said Bud Hirst, assistant vice president over the company’s residential contact centers. “Our goal isn’t to bring someone in for a quick, short-term job. This is a career.” 

Hirst explained the new call center will primarily focus on inbound calls that will deal with customer service-related situations. The employees will be working on computers, but Hirst said having a strong computer background is not a requirement for the job. He said the key for the job is that the employees know how to communicate in an effective manner to assist Frontier’s customers.

Hirst said the company is currently looking to hire about 150 individuals but will hire more in in the coming months.  

Frontier chose to come to Provo thanks to tax incentives offered to the company by Utah’s Governor’s Office of Economic Development. Hirst said the company was looking at Colorado and Utah as finalists for the new center and Utah won out because of the GOED offer. 

According to GOED, Frontier and the state agreed to a 10-year deal that calls upon the company to create 550 new jobs in the state and pay more than $245 million in new state wages. Positions at the new center are to be at least 125 percent of the average Utah County wage, including benefits. 

In return Frontier will receive approval for the maximum cap tax credit of $2,182,912 in the form of a post-performance Economic Development Tax Increment Finance (EDTIF) incentive, which is 20 percent of the net taxes Frontier will pay over the life of the agreement. A statement from GOED explained as Frontier meets the annual criteria in its contract with the state, each year it will earn a portion of the tax credit incentive. 

In addition to the GOED incentive, Hirst noted Utah, especially Provo, was attractive to the company because of the high level of technology aptitude found in Utah County. He said the company was impressed with the level of tech-savvy individuals found in such a concentrated area.  

“Our trainers have been blown away by the quality of employees that are located here,” he said. 

Hours for the center will run Monday through Saturday, and right now shifts run between 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. In addition to a benefits package Hirst said new employees can become eligible for up to 20 days of vacation per year after they are hired. 

Frontier employs approximately 13,900 employees based entirely in the United States. The company’s largest customer base is located on the East Coast.