MANILA, Philippines -- ExcelAsia is expanding its operations in Cebu citing increased demand for its training services from call centers, such as Wipro.

ExcelAsia started in Cebu in 2005 with Convergys as its first client. It has since expanded into Metro Manila and has trained so-called "near-hires" or applicants that did not qualify on their first try, which received scholarships subsidized by the government.

On the average, the company's Cebu office trains 200 to 300 people every month.

Rita Trillo-Ugarte, ExcelAsia president, expects this to increase to at least 400 per month.

"We are expanding our services in Cebu by adding training and recruitment rooms. We also plan to expand our business development team there," she said. Aside from near-hires, ExcelAsia trains college graduates for free and gets paid whenever call centers hire from its talent pool.

One of its new clients is Wipro, one of the top outsourcing firms in India that established a facility in Cebu earlier this year. Other regular ExcelAsia clients include People Support and TeleTech, two of the biggest call centers in terms of workforce.

Cebu was ranked number one among this year's "Top 50 Emerging Global Outsourcing Cities" announced earlier this month by industry analyst Tholons.

According to the Cebu Educational Foundation for Information Technology, call centers and BPO firms in Cebu now employ more than 20,000 workers.