British Telecom (BT) has defended its decision to move some of its call
centre jobs to India, claiming the two centres there sometimes provide a better
service than those in the UK.
Some shareholders complained about the issue at its annual meeting in London
last week, while activists from the Communication Workers Union mounted a pink
elephant protest against the jobs ‘stampede’.
BT Retail chief executive Pierre Danon, said the company’s two call centres
in India, which will employ 2,200 workers by the end of the year, were proving
to be a great success.
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They up to 40 per cent cheaper than the UK and the quality of service was
"sometimes better", he said.
However, he also announced BT was pressing ahead with plans to develop 31
state-of-the-art call centres in the UK, to be staffed by around 17,000 workers
at a cost of £105m, compared with the £3m being invested in India.
