Dubai Outsource Zone, a member of TECOM Investments and the first and only dedicated free zone for the outsourcing industry in the world, is looking forward to multiple growth potentials as spending on information technology, which expanded by over 19 per cent to top $6.8 billion in 2006 in the Gulf Cooperation Council alone, is set to grow by an additional 15 per cent this year.

The economies of the six GCC countries are on an accelerated growth path due to sustained high oil prices, which have also encouraged governments to launch massive diversification efforts. As a critical industry vertical, information technology and communication are the focus areas for these countries. Dubai Outsource Zone (DOZ) stands to gain from this scenario.

An IDC report reveal that though spending on information systems outsourcing started from a small base in the UAE, it exploded by nearly 7.5 times. Services related to hosting infrastructure also made striking advances, rising by nearly 69 per cent in 2005. The firm predicts outsourcing spending, which amounted to around 15 per cent of the total IT services market, will reach approximately 23 per cent of spending by 2010.

DOZ has already increased its master plan to 11 times its original size due to heavy demand from local and international outsourcing companies. The zone has seen its total area increase from three million sq ft to 33 million sq ft.

Among the new entrants to the zone are integrated IT focused international business engineering outsourcing service provider Futech and Emirates airline. The Dubai-based carrier has announced plans to invest up to $54.5 million to set up a call centre at DOZ with 500 employees. The 100,000 sq ft facility is due to be ready in 2008.

Apart from Emirates airline, the UAE’s second telecom operator du, Dutch ABN Amro bank and Mashreq have also announced plans to set up call centres at DOZ.