MANILA, Philippines--Malaysia is not yet a threat to the Philippines despite the former's aggressive campaign to grow its business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, according to an industry observer.

"Malaysia is positioning itself very strongly," said Catriona Wallace, managing director for Callcentres.net, a Sydney-based publishing firm which recently came out with industry forecasts for the Asia Pacific region.

The Malaysian government has been pouring massive infrastructure investments in telecoms aimed at building similar BPO hubs like India and the Philippines.

"What Malaysia does not yet have is highly developed English skills," noted Wallace. "Also the wage structure [in Malaysia] is too high compared to India and the Philippines."

As a call center service provider, Wallace sees Malaysia suited for near-shore Asia Pacific markets, providing support for companies needing customer support in Malay or Mandarin.

"India is still the main competitor," she stressed.

According to the Callcentres.net report, the average number of call center seats per company in Malaysia will increase from 90 to 167 this year.

In the Philippines, meanwhile, the average tally is predicted to increase from 670 to around 800 seats. The same report predicted the local industry to increase by 23 percent this year, equivalent to 129,000 seats.