StarTek Inc., a business process outsourcing company based in Denver, Colorado, has announced plans to open a call center in the Heredia free-trade zone, northwest of San José.

The call center, which will be housed in a 37,000-square-foot facility in Heredia, will employ 400 people in early 2010. The Heredia location will be the 20th call center under the StarTek name, which manages customer relations and technical help calls, primarily for U.S. telecom companies.

This is the second international venture for StarTek, which opened a call center in Manila, Philippines, last January.

“We chose to expand into Latin America for several reasons,” said Larry Jones, StarTek's president and CEO. “We found a large, well-educated, bilingual talent pool and a good business climate in Costa Rica. All of these factors are advantageous to our global growth.”

StarTek, which opened in 1987, employs over 8,000 people, including over 1,100 operators at its Philippines location. StarTek is currently traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SRT. On Tuesday, it sold for $8.49/share.

According to the StarTek Web site, StarTek offers customer management solutions to businesses to improve relationships with customers and consumers. StarTek also aims to increase customer loyalty to, and the profitability of, the companies they service.