The telecom operator announced Tuesday a partnership with Five9 Philippines Inc., a provider of Web-based contact center solutions, to help transform the company's 'Smart Click' caf's into contact centers. Under the agreement, Five9 will provide Smart Click cafes with its Virtual Call Center software.

According to Tina Mariano, head of Smart's public access group, the program will run under a franchise model. For an initial capital of P325,000 (US$6,489), franchisees will be shipped a container van containing Internet-ready 15 PCs. The package comes with technical support from Smart.