Cable firm NTL to cut 1,500 staff

The cable firm is to merge its UK call centre operations at three sites

Telephone and cable company NTL is to cut 1,500 jobs at its UK call centres, the company has announced.

The company - Britain's biggest cable TV firm - said the losses were the result of its decision to close 10 of its 13 UK call centres.

The sites will close over the next 18 months, the firm added.

In November, NTL unveiled plans for an efficiency drive that would see it reduce its 14,000-strong workforce by 2,000 over the next three years.

The company said sites in Belfast, Glasgow's Maxwell Road, Brighton, Cambridge and Winnersh, near Reading, would be closed.

Meanwhile, its call centre operations would be merged into three bases in Manchester, Swansea and Bellshill, its second site in Glasgow.

'Critical step'

Elsewhere, a small number of staff will be retained to provide cover support for four centres in Nottingham, Teesside, Luton and Coventry.

Chief executive Simon Duffy said: "NTL has made good progress in improving its customer service, but we still have some way to go.

"The consolidation of our call centres and investment in leading-edge technology is a critical step on our path to greatly improved service for our customers."

The group added that it hoped to achieve most of the cuts through "natural wastage".

Restructuring

NTL, which is listed on the US stock market but has the bulk of its operations in Europe, has been working hard recently to recover from a costly acquisition spree in the 1990s.

In 2002 the firm was forced to seek emergency protection from its creditors after almost collapsing under the weight of its hefty debt burden built up during the expansion.

Many of the acquisitions were completed at the height of the 1990s technology boom, when company valuations peaked before plunging back to earth in the subsequent bust.

In January 2003, NTL emerged from bankruptcy protection after its lenders agreed to swap £6.8bn worth of debt for stock.