Because the average wage in Asia is about a fifth of that in the UK. Building regulations are not as restrictive and employees don't enjoy the same legal rights that we do. So it's incredibly cheap for companies to site their telephone support outside the UK. Unfortunately the staff turnover rate for call centres is incredibly high. The average burnout is about 6 months, although obviously this depends on the company; the better paid and treated the employees, the less burnout cases. So what tends to happen with call centres is that they will staff initially with polite and knowledgable staff who tend to be graduate-level. Thus, initially it looks like a sure win situation since the operation is both cheap and efficient. But the high burnout rate means that often within a year, the staff has been replaced en masse (sometimes several times over) and the higher-calibre applicants have run out. (This also happens in the UK but tends to take somewhat longer and isn't always as noticeable since at least there isn't a problem finding English speakers.) Another major problem for call centres abroad is that the UK has such a huge range of local accents. If you've got BBC English or a rough approximation, it's easier to be understood than Geordie. I try to steer clear of businesses which use call centres abroad, primarily because I want to protect my own career in the UK call centre market, but also because it can be very frustrating dealing with them.

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"you are terrifying
and strange and beautiful
something not everyone knows how to love." - Warsan Shire