Jobs plan blow for city

Queen's Quay call centre operations employ 250 people

Plans to create 400 jobs in Londonderry have been abandoned by BT, after the company announced it was scaling back on proposals for a major call centre in the city.

The Queen's Quay call centre project was expected to create 650 jobs.

The company said that it had already completed phase one and two of the project, employing a total of 250 people, but the third phase would now not go ahead.

On Friday, a spokesperson for BT said the decision had been taken because of difficulties experienced by telecoms and IT companies around the world.

Plans for the next phase of the internal call centre operation in Derry were made public by BT in October 1999.

Statement

But in a statement, Chief Executive Hanif Lalani said that global conditions had changed dramatically over the past 18 months.

He said that telecoms, software and information technology were facing a global slowdown and no company had remained immune to its effects.

Mr Lalani said that BT was deeply committed to the city of Derry and to Northern Ireland and said that the decision was "disappointing".

He said that BT would work closely with all city and government agencies to attract call centre and other development to the area.