According to industry reports such as those from BPESA, approximately 78% of these call centres offer support services, which are specific in what they do. However, the part that may frustrate many people is the remaining call centres 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-centre 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 time when WhatsApp calls/messages and voice notes are the order of the day, I find that my mobile phone does not ring as much as it did 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 like BPESA estimate the total workforce in the sector to be approximately 261,000 agents by late 2024, with 65,000 focusing on international clients. This number is expected to grow further in 2026.

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% 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 recognise 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 centre. 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 work 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 . That 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 recognise, 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?

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? 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 recognise the source. Applying any form of control will be no easy feat, and that is probably why we don’t have any regulation as yet. In my view, the outbound call center industry is heading for