How to Start a Small Call Center in Bangladesh (5 to 20 Agents)

A small call center in Bangladesh no longer needs a server room, a PABX, or a telecom license. With a cloud call center solution, the phone system part of the job takes a day and costs ৳500 to ৳1,000 a month. The hard parts are the ones that have nothing to do with technology: deciding what the center is for, sizing it honestly, hiring, and keeping quality up. This guide walks through all of it in order, with the numbers.

Before you start: in-house desk or BPO?

Two very different businesses call themselves “call center”:

• An in-house customer desk that answers your own customers: an e-commerce support line, a hospital appointment line, an ISP helpdesk. You size it to your own call volume.
• A BPO or outsourcing center that answers for clients. You need clients before agents, and clients will ask about recordings, reporting, and uptime before price.

This guide covers both; where they differ, it says so. Either way, the setup below is what a 5 to 20 agent operation needs.

Step 1: Size the center (agents vs channels)

The two numbers that decide everything are agents (people with a login) and channels (calls that can be active at once). They are not the same, and confusing them is the most common sizing mistake.

Rough method for an inbound desk:

1. Estimate calls per day at peak hour. Count from your current phone logs or from orders.
2. Multiply by average call length in minutes, including wrap-up time.
3. Divide by 60. That is the number of concurrent calls at peak.
4. Add one for safety. That is your channel count.
5. Agents are channels plus the people on break, training, or outbound work.

Example: an e-commerce desk takes 120 calls in the busiest hour, 3 minutes each with notes. 120 × 3 ÷ 60 = 6 concurrent calls. Round up to 7 channels… which in practice means the Enterprise plan with 10 channels and 20 extensions, with 8 to 10 agents on shift.

Start one plan smaller than you think and upgrade when the “busy” count in the portal shows callers waiting. Upgrades take minutes and no downtime.

Step 2: Get the hotline number

Your center needs one number that all agents share. In Bangladesh that is a 096 IP number issued by a BTRC-licensed IPTSP operator, which comes free with any plan. You do not need a telecom license of your own; the operator holds it. If you want a memorable number for advertising, ask early, before the number is printed anywhere.

Documents: NID and photo of the owner, plus the trade license. The documents checklist shows what an accepted copy looks like. Approval and activation usually complete within 24 hours.

For a BPO, you will often get a second number per client so that each client’s callers hear that client’s greeting. Each is just another number pointed at the same agents.

Step 3: Design the IVR and routing

Write the call flow on paper before anyone records anything:

• Greeting (business name, recording notice)
• Menu with at most four options, in Bangla first, English if needed
• Where each option rings: a group of agents, a single extension, or a voicemail-style message
• After-hours message with opening times
• Overflow: what happens when all channels are busy (queue, or forward to a mobile)

A two-option menu outperforms a six-option one. Callers who have to listen to six options hang up and call again, which doubles your load. The IVR setup guide has Bangla scripts for greetings, menus, and after-hours messages.

Add a recording notice to the greeting from day one. Recordings are how you train, how you settle disputes, and how you win BPO clients.

Step 4: Choose equipment (less than you think)

For each agent you need:

• A computer or smartphone with the free Zoiper app, or an IP desk phone
• A headset with a boom microphone (৳1,500 to ৳3,000 USB, or RJ9 for a desk phone). Do not skip this; speakerphones and earbuds cause echo and tired agents.
• A stable internet connection: about 100 Kbps per call, so a 10 Mbps line handles 10 agents comfortably. Put the router on the UPS.

Desk phones are optional. A Yealink T31P costs around ৳7,000 and makes sense for agents who take calls eight hours a day; the IP phone comparison covers the choices. Many small centers run entirely on laptops plus headsets.

Things you do not need: a PABX, a server, a recording logger, a telecom license, or a technician on retainer.

Step 5: Set up recording, monitoring, and reports

Switch on three features in the first week:

1. Call recording (৳99 to ৳299 a month depending on plan). Every call, every agent, 90 days. The call recording guide covers the announcement script and a weekly review routine.
2. Agent monitoring in the portal: who is on a call, for how long, who is idle. This is the supervisor’s screen.
3. Reports per agent and per day: calls answered, missed, average duration. Pull them weekly and look for the agent with the most short calls (rushing) and the most long calls (stuck).

For a BPO, the reports are also your invoice backup. Clients will ask for answered-call counts and average wait time.

Step 6: Hire and train agents

Hiring for a small center in Dhaka or Chattogram in practice:

• Salary band: entry-level agents are typically paid around ৳12,000 to ৳20,000 a month; team leads more. Shift allowances for night work.
• Hire for voice and patience, not for typing speed. A five-minute mock call tells you more than a CV.
• Train with recordings. Play real calls: one good, one bad. New agents learn the tone in a day.
• Script the first ten seconds, not the whole call. “Assalamu alaikum, [company] customer care, ami [name] bolchi, kivabe shahajjo korte pari?” Then let them talk.
• Make work-from-home possible. Agents on Zoiper at home show up in the same portal as agents in the office. This widens your hiring pool and covers night shifts without a night office.

Step 7: Launch and the first month’s budget

Soft-launch with half the agents for a week, listen to recordings every day, fix the IVR, then go full.

A realistic first-month budget for a 10-agent inbound desk:

Incoming calls are free, so an inbound desk’s call bill is only the call-backs. Salaries, rent, and internet are the real cost; the phone system is a rounding error, which is the point. Run your own figures in the bill calculator.

Common mistakes

• Buying channels equal to agents. Ten agents rarely have ten calls active at once. Five channels is usually right for ten agents.
• A long IVR. Every extra option costs you repeat calls.
• No recording notice, then needing a recording in a dispute.
• Letting the number be registered to an employee instead of the business.
• No overflow plan. When all channels are busy, forward to a mobile or play a “we will call you back” message. Silence loses the customer.

FAQ

How much does it cost to start a small call center in Bangladesh?

The phone system costs ৳500 to ৳1,000 a month plus a one-time setup of ৳0 to ৳1,000, with recording from ৳99. Headsets are the main hardware cost, around ৳2,000 per agent. The larger costs are salaries, rent, and internet.

Do I need a BTRC license to run a call center?

No. You use a hotline number issued by a BTRC-licensed IPTSP operator through a provider such as IPCallBD. A BPO that handles international calls for foreign clients may need separate registration; ask us and we will point you to the right office.

Can agents work from home?

Yes. Agents install the Zoiper app on a phone or laptop, log in with their extension, and appear in the same supervisor portal as office agents.

How many agents can one hotline number support?

As many as your plan has extensions, up to 20 on Enterprise and more on request. All share the one number; the IVR and channels decide how calls are distributed.

How long does setup take?

The number, IVR, and extensions are usually live within 24 hours of document approval. Most of your launch time goes to hiring and training, not the phone system.

Related Articles

• Call center solutions in Bangladesh: everything you need to know
• Call recording for business in Bangladesh
• Hotline number for business in Bangladesh